Holden may be undergoing a radical transformation at present, but that doesn’t mean it’s about to shut down its racing program. In fact GM’s Australian subsidiary has renewed its commitment to the Supercars series for another three years. And it’s switching up its strategy in the process.

The automaker has announced a new partnership with established competition outfit Triple Eight Race Engineering. Starting next season, they’ll race under the banner of the newly formed Red Bull Holden Racing Team, and will continue to do so through the end of 2019 at the earliest.

The partnership will also see Triple Eight develop the next-generation Commodore tin-top racer. Now if you’re thinking that the current road-going, eight-cylinder, rear-drive, Australian-built Commodore is slated to be replaced by a front-driver imported from overseas, you would be correct. But none of that stopped Volvo or Nissan from creating rear-drive V8 Supercars out of their front-drive, six-cylinder S60 and Altima sedans, and it won’t stop Holden either.

Unfortunately the deal with Triple Eight spells the end of Holden’s long-standing partnership with Walkinshaw Racing, with which it will now part company. Walkinshaw will likely continue fielding Holden Commodores in the series, but as a customer team and not as the manufacturer’s anointed works program – in effect changing places with Triple Eight that similarly run Holdens currently.

The outgoing Holden Racing Team, founded by the manufacturer and Walkinshaw, is the most successful in the series with 178 race wins to Triple Eight’s 150. Holden is also the winningest manufacturer in the series, with 507 race wins to Ford’s 333. Holden has won eleven of out of the sixteen championships in the modern history of the series, including the past six.

The development comes at a time of transition for the Holden brand, which once stood as an automaker in its own right, producing models like the Commodore in Australia for local consumption, and even helping other GM brands with their own rear-drive V8 models like the Pontiac GTO and Chevy SS. The brand is now shifting to importing and rebadging GM products made elsewhere.

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