With just two events left in the 2015 V8 Supercars season, the Holden Racing Team will now head to Phillip Island, home of the famous penguin parade, this weekend.

The original Phillip Island Circuit was built in 1928 and was located two kilometres from where the current circuit is situated. Re-designed in 1956 and now positioned on the stunning coast line, Phillip Island Circuit not only provides spectacular views but thrilling racing for spectators.

The track hosts the V8 Supercars along with a full program of four-wheeled events, and it is home to two international motorcycle events - Moto GP and World Superbikes. Resurfaced in 2012, the 4.445km track is known for its high speed and fast long-loaded corners. Tyre degradation is always high which means only the hard tyre compound will be allocated for use this weekend.

The Holden Racing Team holds the record for most championship race wins at Phillip Island – a whopping 15. Between 2008 and 2011 the circuit hosted the pre-Bathurst 500km endurance race, HRT won two of these bringing the total number of wins at the track to 17. Garth has won on five different occasions while James scored a pole position in 2014.

Words of Wisdom:

Garth Tander, #2 Holden Commodore VF:
“The track is fast, flowing, high speed and has a little bit of rise and fall. It’s a really enjoyable circuit, it’s very similar to Bathurst, and it’s very smooth as it has just been resurfaced a couple of years ago.”

“Our cars don’t have a lot of aero grip so this is what will make the track difficult because of its high speed. There are a couple of slow corners so balancing the high speed grip and low speed grip is probably one of the tricky things we work on along with high speed stability.”

“Phillip Island is probably one of the highest wearing tracks on our tyres, there is very high degradation. We are in the corners for such a long time, they are very long lateral and loaded corners – this is what wears the tyres out. We don’t run the soft tyre here for that very reason, they just wouldn’t last so it’s an all hard tyre weekend.”

“On paper this track is not really suited to our cars, our cars as we all know are very suited to street circuits with a short corner. Having said that, traditionally I have actually gone quite well there, we were quite strong there last year and very close to getting the race win.”

“There is nothing to dislike about Phillip Island, other than the weather can be a bit fickle, but I really enjoy the commitment that is required there. You really have to tighten the seat belts up and hold your breath for a quick lap.”

James Courtney, #22 Holden Commodore VF:
“Phillip Island has very different characteristics to the last few tracks we’ve been to. It’s been a while since we have been to a fast and flowing circuit. Corners on and off the main straight are very high speed as is the Hay Shed out the back, so it requires quite a bit of aero balance. It’s normally pretty hard on the tyres because of the long loaded corners.”

“There is quite a bit of passing down into MG and also into Honda, so a lot of passing opportunity. This set up of the car here is a little bit tricky because you need a really good stable platform because the track is so high speed but then also there are two slow hairpins where you need good rotation and good drive. So you can’t only run the car stiff for the high speed, you need to get that mechanical balance for the two slower corners.”

“You also need a good engine package because there is a lot of throttle, we have good strong engines so I think we should be good there. We had some good results last year so hopefully we have a good base package to start with.”

“My championship this year is done unfortunately, so now we will focus on development in my side of the garage. We’ll take a few more risks with car set-up and strategy, while we’ll run Garth’s car as more of a base package.”