Motorsport: The new look 2018 Red Bull Holden unveiled

By Matthew Hansen

NZ Herald·

18 Jan, 2018 11:09 PM2 mins to read

Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup unveil their new look Red Bull Holden. Photo / Matthew Hansen

The Red Bull Holden Racing Team have lifted the lid on their new warpaint for the 2018 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship season — to be raced by defending series champion Jamie Whincup and New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen.

Revealed in Sydney, the new livery represents a big departure from the team's typically corporate look; instead featuring a prominent amount of white, mixed in with the familiar blue.

The livery bares resemblance with the 2015 and 2016 paint scheme that Volkswagen utilized when they competed in the World Rally Championship, while supported by Red Bull.

This is the third livery of the 2018 season to be released, following the reveal of Lee Holdsworth (Preston Hire Racing) and Will Davison's (23Red Racing) colours in recent weeks.

However, this is the first time that punters have been able to view the new Holden ZB Commodore Supercar in the flesh, minus the car's 'camouflage' paint scheme that it wore during testing.

It represents the first Holden entry into the series since Australian production came to a close last year; replacing the popular VF Commodore Supercar.

It's also the first hatchback model to be raced by Holden in the top echelons of the sport since they competed with the Holden Torana A9x in the late 1970s — a car that claimed the most dominant victory in Bathurst 1000 history in 1979 with Peter Brock and Jim Richards at the helm (winning by six laps).

The car has been at the center of controversy, after it was revealed that it would be powered by a twin-turbo V6 engine in future iterations. Early ZB Commodore Supercars will retain the current V8 unit, but are expected to adopt the V6 unit across the board for 2019.

Round one of the 2018 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship takes place on the streets of Adelaide on March 1–4.