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Triple Eight has taken the covers off the newly developed Holden ZB Commodore Supercar which will make its competitive debut next year.
The factory Holden squad has revealed the car following an extensive 10 month computer-aided design, development, and build program.
Based around the European deigned Opel Insignia, the next generation Commodore completed its maiden 60km shakedown at Norwell Motorplex on the Gold Coast on Thursday.
The ZB Commodore, presented in a special Red Bull testing livery, offers a distinctive new ‘hatchback’ look compared to its VF predecessor.
Triple Eight boss Roland Dane has admitted the development of the ZB has proved a huge but rewarding task for his team.
His squad has been tasked to solely develop the car on behalf of Holden, with the process beginning in November last year.
“The overall look of the car is quite different from anything we’ve had before, so it’s been a big but exciting task, and we’re relishing the opportunity to get on track to see how we’ve done,” said Dane.
“The team’s had to work incredibly hard this year in order to compete on track with the current VF Commodore, but also work flat out on the new car.
“By the time we get to the end of this year, the development process will have taken up about 20,000 hours.
“We are very privileged to have been given the responsibility for developing and producing the new Commodore as a race car.
“We’re excited to see the results of the work that we’ve been carrying out.”
Six-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup was impressed by the new car following his maiden run at the shakedown.
“The team’s been burning the midnight oil behind the scenes for this moment when we finally get to bring the brand new Commodore to the track and test it for the first time,” said Whincup.
“So far it feels fantastic. The work that they’ve done behind the scenes to this point, in my opinion we’re 99 percent there.
“There’s just some fine-tuning that’s got to go on in the next few weeks and the next few months until we fully unleash the full version in 2018.”
The shakedown begins a period of track running for the car as the team prepares for homologation testing in December.
Triple Eight has been issued three Accredited Manufacturer Test days to fine tune the aero package, with the first scheduled to take place at Queensland Raceway late next week.
CLICK HERE for more images of the ZB Commodore.
