Russell Ingall has taken the wraps off of the 2013 Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore VF ahead of his final year of full-time V8 Supercars competition.
Ingall, the 2005 V8 champion, will retire from the sport at the end of the year, which marks his 18th consecutive as a full-time driver.
The launch of Ingall’s new car took place at the Supercheap Auto distribution centre in Altona, Melbourne.
Ingall will compete in the first completed Walkinshaw Racing Car of the Future Holden, chassis 016, before switching to a brand-new chassis in April.
The two-time Bathurst 1000 winner says he’s hoping his experience will pay-off this year in the category’s first season with the new Car of the Future technical regulations.
“Being completely new and different from the way V8s have always been built, COTF is quite a departure from the norm,” he said.
“Because I spent the early years of my career jumping between different categories, I believe I’ll be able to adapt to the new car quite quickly.”
“I’m not going into this season thinking about my last year, I’m just going into it as another year of racing. I’m probably more determined this year because of opportunities with new car.
“If I can come out of the first three rounds with a good bundle of points, I think I’ll be able to have one of the best years I’ve had for a long time.
“Walkinshaw Racing is probably the best prepared out of all the teams in having three cars totally prepared and tested before the start of the season,” he added of the Clayton, Melbourne, based team, which also prepares the Holden Racing Team entries of Garth Tander and James Courtney.
“This will be a huge advantage in knowing what makes the car work and what the vulnerabilities are.”
Walkinshaw Racing also also built a fourth COTF Commodore for Tony D’Alberto Racing, which will be run out of TDR’s own Melbourne workshop.
The Supercheap Auto Commodore will be seen in action at Sydney Motorsport Park this weekend for the official pre-season test.
See below for the team’s official launch video
