Holden Racing Team boss Adrian Burgess is confident the cause of the team’s Symmons Plains struggles have been addressed ahead of this weekend’s WD-40 Phillip Island Super Sprint.
After scoring a victory at the Clipsal 500 and showing top five form at Albert Park, the factory Holden squad struggled at the Tasmanian venue.
The lack of speed saw the team shelve its latest generation front upright package during the weekend.
Drivers Garth Tander and James Courtney were restricted to battling outside the top 10 in Race 4 before salvaging sixth and seventh respectively in the final 200km heat at the Tasmanian circuit.
Since the round the Melbourne squad has halted work on car development in a bid to ensure its Symmons Plains frailties are fully understood before the trek to Phillip Island.
“Clearly Tassie was not what we wanted in terms of a team performance,” Burgess told Speedafe.com.
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“We have drawn a bit of a halt on all the development stuff between then and now to understand what happened at Tassie.
“I believe the guys have drawn the right conclusions from what we have found in the data.
“While I’m not going to sit here and say we are going to put it on pole, we are hopeful and confident that we will go to Phillip Island with a far better understanding to operate the car in the window.
“Some days you get a kick up the arse and it makes you come back and work even harder to understand what went on and I think we have done that.”
After a thorough investigation, Burgess says his team will reintroduce its front-end upgrade package at Phillip Island.
“At Tassie we were guilty of not understanding enough about it and not generating the right tools to tune around the updates,” added Burgess.
“I think with the benefit of hindsight and a bit more time we have understood the effects of the change and understood better how to maximise and optimise the updates we have put on the car.
“I think it is the right direction for us but the proof will be in the pudding if we can get the thing to work a bit better.”
Tander and Courtney, who will run a special ANZAC Appeal livery this weekend, will begin the WD-40 Phillip Island Super Sprint today, with opening practice scheduled for 1:55pm local time.
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