PENRITE RACING CELEBRATES SPECIAL MILESTONE FOR HOLDSWORTH AT SANDOWN

The Supercars planets aligned today for Lee Holdsworth in the Penrite Racing pits today at Sandown in a fitting celebration ahead of his 500th race start.

After the reigning Bathurst champion revealed he will run #500 on his car this weekend, Team Owner Stephen Grove reunited Holdsworth with the car that he made his Supercars debut in, coincidentally at Sandown, back in 2004.

The Smith’s Trucks commodore he co-drove in the Sandown 500 that year, was adorned with #001 in a nod to the milestone that only 10 other drivers have achieved in the history of the sport.

“I remember starting out and being amongst the big names like Mark Skaife, Russell Ingall, Craig Lowndes and Marcos Ambrose and thinking far out, these guys are my heroes, how am I going to race against them?” Said Holdsworth.

“Earlier this week I was looking at the list of guys who’ve made it to 500, and see my name around them is a bit surreal, I never would’ve thought I would make it this far.

“It was very cool to be reunited with my first car and see the #001 on it, they’re so old school and were fun to drive, then to have #500 on my car this weekend means a lot to me. I have to thank the Grove’s for that. Now I want to get my head down and repay them with a good result.”

Practice for the Penrite Oil Sandown SuperSprint begins tomorrow – Friday, August 19 ahead of three sprint races this weekend.