Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!
In the second half of last year Lee Holdsworth announced that the 2022 season would be his last as a full-time driver in V8 Supercars. To celebrate his contributions to motorsports I’m giving a quick rundown on his career to date. I say ‘to date’ because I believe he has not fully retired from the sport and will be adding more to his list of achievements.
Lee Holdsworth was born on the 2nd of February 1983 in Melbourne Victoria. (Happy Birthday for next month).
Lee Holdsworth started his motorsport career in go karts. He quickly progressed to racing cars in 2001 to compete in the Commodore National Series at only 17 years of age.
In 2002 he finished fifth in the Commodore Cup National Series and then in 2003 finished third.
In 2004 he moved up to compete in the Konica Series driving a Holden VX Commodore for Smith Trucks Racing. He earned some impressive results including finishing his first ever round in the top 10, winning the reverse grid race at Eastern Creek and taking third place in Queensland. It was this year that Lee Holdsworth also got his first taste of The Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000.
In 2005 Lee competed in the Australian Formula Ford Championship with Garry Rogers Motorsport. At the same time, he ran in a number of HPDC Development Series events.
The following year, 2006 was his big break earning a fulltime drive with Garry Rogers Motorsport (GRM) in the V8 Supercars Championship. In 2007 Lee Holdsworth won his first ever V8 Supercars round at Oran Park. His consistency and good strategies had paid off.
In 2008 Lee Holdsworth started working with the John Bowe Institute of Driving helping bring performance driving safety techniques to the public.
In 2009 Lee Holdsworth scored his first career pole position at the first ever Townsville round. He also scored pole position at the first running of the Sydney Telstra 500.
In 2010 Lee Holdsworth was still at GRM and earned 2 pole positions plus a race win.
His 4 year contract with GRM ended after the 2011 season and in 2012 he replaced Shane Van Gisbergen at Stone Brothers Racing.
In 2013 when Erebus Motorsport took over Stone Brothers Racing Lee Holdsworth had Tim Slade and Mario Engel as teammates. With co-driver Craig Baird they earned 3rd place in the endurance race of the Sandown 500.
In 2014 Lee Holdsworth hit a patch of bad luck and received 2 DNFs. One DNF was at Sandown and the other was Bathurst. He made amends by taking first place at Winton.
He spent the following year at Walkinshaw Racing.
In 2016 he moved on to join Team 18. After sustaining injuries at Hidden Valley Raceway, he had to sit out a number of events and didn’t return until the Bathurst 1000.
In 2017 Lee Holdsworth resigned with Team 18 to the end of 2018.
In 2019 Lee Holdsworth moved to Tickford Racing when the Ford Mustangs debuted in the Supercars Championship. It also meant it was his first time behind the wheel of a Ford since 2012.
In 2021 Lee Holdsworth lost his fulltime seat and became co-driver to Chaz Mostert. The relationship worked and they won the coveted Bathurst 1000.
With a Bathurst win under his belt, he returned to fulltime Supercars Racing in 2022 at Grove Racing.
So, after 16 years as a fulltime driver in V8 Supercars and 510 race starts (plus a few more in other categories) the Lethal Lee Holdsworth claims his retirement. Congratulations on what has been an amazing career! Best of luck for the future.