Mike Henry has applauded his Toll Holden Racing Team members – from the top to the bottom.
Henry, who was thrust into the role of Racing Operations Manager in May when key staff were dumped mid-season, has congratulated the Walkinshaw family, the guy who drives the team truck and everyone in between for today’s Bathurst 1000 win.
Garth Tander and Nick Percat secured the team a resounding victory, defeating Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife in a nail-biting finish.
“To Martine and Ryan (Walkinshaw), they’ve done fantastically to do this the first time around without Tom. It was special,” Henry told Speedcafe.com.
“From what we’ve gone through, such an upheaval … We had Tom at the helm for such a long time, it was always going to be hard in the period after that. To do this ace.”
Henry congratulated every driver in his team, suggesting that all of his staff deserves their own Peter Brock Trophy.
“Every bloke in our team deserves a trophy. There wasn’t a single bloke here who hasn’t pulled together over the past four or five months. It’s bloody fantastic,” Henry said.
“Every single member of our team is special, and when you put drivers in the car like that, it’s amazing.”
Speaking on the tight finish, Henry says that he could feel his heart beating out of his chest.
“I reckon I need to go see Dr Carl!” he said.
“I felt like Lowndes had our measure down the straight. I felt like we were sitting duck, but Garth did a job and a half.
Besides the intense finish, Henry says that he has no concerned regarding Percat’s clash with the Griffins Bend wall during his second stint on lap 52.
“He meant it – he was just straightening up the left hand mirror!” Henry joked.
“A place like this is full of luck – good and bad. It was bad luck to be out there because Lowndes got up the inside of him and put him on the marbles, but good luck that when we touched the wall we had the wheels straight.”
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