GROVE SIGN HOLDSWORTH FOR 2022
Bathurst 1000 winner Lee Holdsworth will return to the Supercars Championship full-time in 2022 after signing with Grove Racing.
After his maiden win in the Great Race, Holdsworth has signed a 12-month agreement with the Braeside based squad to drive alongside David Reynolds in the two-car Ford Mustang team, replacing the Brad Jones Racing bound Andre Heimgartner.
“I’m blown away by this opportunity and I can’t wait to get back full-time into the Supercars Championship,” said Holdsworth.
“My full time campaign was cut short at the end of 2020 and it certainly wasn’t the way I imagined bowing out from the sport.”
“I’ve now got a great opportunity with Grove Racing to finish off my full time career in Supercars while playing an important role in helping the team move forward for the future.”
Holdsworth is looking forward to playing an important role in helping the team develop as it transitions into full Grove family ownership next season.
“Although sitting on the sidelines wasn’t much fun, winning the Bathurst 1000 made up for it! As soon as I got a phone call from Stephen about driving with them full-time in 2022, I knew it was a challenge I wanted to accept.” Holdsworth continued.
“I’ve got an important role to play in the team for next year, and I’m excited by that. Having the chance to partner David Reynolds, who I know is one of the fastest drivers in the field, and help build this new team up to be a future force in the championship is very exciting.”
“You can see Grove Racing is leaving nothing on the table. They have good cars, some new engineering and management talent, and they are building up their young driver program too, so I’m looking forward to being a part of the whole program.”
“Hopefully I can use some of my experience to help drive the team forward.”
The Grove’s believe that the combination of Holdsworth and Reynolds will put the team in the best possible position to launch into its new era and prepare for the implementation of Gen3.
“It is a pleasure to welcome Lee to Grove Racing for 2022,” said Stephen Grove, team owner.
“Lee has proven to be one of the fastest and most reliable drivers in the Supercars field over the years, and we feel he will be the perfect fit for our team.”
“He did an incredible job as the co-driver to Chaz Mostert in the Bathurst 1000, and they both thoroughly deserved the victory at The Great Race.
“Lee is one of the most experienced drivers in the field, and at this point of our team’s development, and with the implementation of the Grove Junior Team, we wanted to have an experienced driver, a leader off the track and most importantly, someone we know will work with our team to drive forward.”
“Lee ticks all of those boxes. His resume speaks for itself and we can’t wait to get into the Supercars Championship with him and David Reynolds next year.”
Grove Racing will conduct a test day at Winton early in the new year which will give Holdsworth his first chance to drive one of the team’s Mustangs.
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