Holdsworth, who has won two races over the course of his 89 event, 198 race career, including 75 top 10 finishes, four poles, 14 top three race finishes and 11 podiums, is looking forward to adding to his V8 Supercars career statistics.

Having driven the IRWIN Tools Ford Falcon in December, Holdsworth is aiming to win a championship with his new team.

“Obviously I want to win a championship, that’s why I came here and that’s why Ross and Jimmy (Stone) got me on board,” said Lee Holdsworth.

“We’ll take it step by step and try to improve every time we get in the car.

“There’s a lot of work to do, but we all have the same goal, we want to work towards winning the championship.

“These guys know how to win, they build good solid cars and they have some really good stuff happening with the car of the future (in 2013).

“There’s a lot to really look forward to.”

Already Holdsworth is enjoying the change of a new team, having spent the past six years with Melbourne based outfit Garry Rogers Motorsport (GRM)

“I was with GRM for six years, it’s nice to have a change,” said Holdsworth.

“I’ve come up to Queensland, back to my home town, with a very good team in SBR and IRWIN Tools.

“It’s brilliant to have such a good group of guys behind me, I’m looking forward to giving it a crack in 2012.”

Holdsworth believes that he’s joined IRWIN Racing at the perfect time, with SBR in the mix to challenge Triple Eight Racing for the championship.

“We all know that it all goes around in cycles, as to who’s at the top,” said Holdsworth.

“This helped in my decision as to where I’d end up in 2012.

“I made the right decision in picking Stone Brothers because they look like they are nearly at the top of their cycle.

“I think I’ve come on board at a really good time. It’s definitely exciting times.”

Having already driven the IRWIN Ford, at Morgan Park Raceway in Queensland; not only is Holdsworth “pumped” ahead of the season start next month, but he is already starting to consider his new year goals.

“It’s hard to set any concrete goals at the moment because I need to see how I fare up compared to the rest,” said Holdsworth.

“I need to get my head around this Ford. It’s brilliant, it is quite different to what I’m used to and it requires me to drive differently to what I’ve done in the past.

“As soon as I get my head around it I’ll know where I stand.

“I would have thought that a top five (in the championship) would be a good start and we’ll take it from there.”

Holdsworth gets his first official drive of the #4 IRWIN Tools Ford Falcon at the compulsory season opening test day at Sandown Raceway on Saturday, February 11.

The first V8 Supercars event of the season is the Adelaide Clipsal 500, March 1-4, 2012.

Lee Holdsworth Statistics

Date of Birth: 2 February, 1983
Birthplace: Melbourne, Vic
Resides: Broadbeach Waters, Qld
Nickname: Leethal
Height: 170cm
Weight: 72kg
Marital Status: Married to Alana Holdsworth
Interest: Motor Racing, All Sports

V8 Supercar Championship Series Stats

Debut: Sandown 500, 2004
Event Starts: 89
Event Wins: 2 (Race 23, 2007 – Oran Park & Race 26, 2010 – Sydney)
Event Podiums: 11. 1st: 2, 2nd: 4, 3rd: 5
Race Starts: 198
Race Wins: 2 (Race 23, 2007 – Oran Park & Race 26, 2010 – Sydney)
Top 3 Race Finishes: 14
Top 10 Race Finishes: 75
Poles: 4 (Race 11, 2009 – Townsville, Race 26, 2009, Races 25 & 26, 2010 – Sydney)
Front Row Stats: 6
Best Season Result: 7th- 2010

Bathurst 1000 Stats

Debut: 2004 (Commodore VY with Mark Noske)
Starts: 8
Best Qualifying: 4th (2009 w. Michael Caruso & 2010 w. David Besnard)
Best Result: 3rd (2009 – w. Michael Caruso)

Full Year Championship Results

2011: Garry Rogers Motorsport, Holden Commodore VE: 8th
2010: Garry Rogers Motorsport, Holden Commodore VE: 7th
2009: Garry Rogers Motorsport, Holden Commodore VE: 10th
2008: Garry Rogers Motorsport, Holden Commodore VZ: 11th
2007: Garry Rogers Motorsport, Holden Commodore VE: 15th
2006: Garry Rogers Motorsport, Holden Commodore VE: 20th

Davison was an early retiree in today’s last race of the season after being hit by a wayward Dean Fiore on lap 30 or the 74 lap race.

The damaged sustained, a broken watts link and diff housing, was too great to be fixed and saw Davison exit the car, ending his season prematurely.

A shattered Davison watched the final 34 laps from the IRWIN Racing garage knowing that a fast finishing Tim Slade and James Courtney would leap frog him in the championship, relegating the Queensland based driver to 11th in the championship.

Having being placed in the top nine for the entire season, dropping out of the 10 was a bitter pill to swallow for Davison who was making his final appearance for the IRWIN Tools backed team.

What IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison had to say:

“Steve Owen and Todd Kelly were crashing into each other and I got half caught up in this. I didn’t get a good run out of turn seven because of this and just moved over to cover my line and Dean Fiore hit me from behind and spat me into the fence. That damaged the car too much to repair. To say I’m shattered is an absolute understatement.”

What IRWIN Racing’s engineer Dan Kroehn had to say:

“It was probably more than a racing incident. We got into a bit of a tangle with (Dean) Fiore out of turn seven, Alex was in front but Dean didn’t lift and caught his rear quarter and spat him into the wall. Alex caught the spin but slapped into the wall which broke the Watts Link and the Diff Housing. So it was a DNF (Did Not Finish) for us, which is so disappointing given the form we’ve shown this year. To drop out of the top 10 in the championship is equally disappointing.”

FINAL 2011 V8 SUPERCAR CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

1. #88 Jamie Whincup 3168 points
2. #888 Craig Lowndes 3133
3. #9 Mark Winterbottom 2710
4. #5 Shane van Gisbergen 2672
5. #2 Garth Tander 2574
6. #6 Rick Kelly 2358
7. #15 Will Davison 2345
8. #33 Lee Holdsworth 1920
9. #47 Tim Slade 1904
10. #1 James Courtney 1869
11. #4 Alex Davison 1850

V8 SUPERCARS: SYDNEY TELSTRA 500 RACE 28 RESULTS

1. #5 Winterbottom 74 Laps
2. #888 Lowndes
3. #9 van Gisbergen
4. #19 Webb
5. #39 Ingall
6. #34 Caruso
7. #1 Courtney
8. #88 Whincup
9. #8 Bright
10. #47 Slade
DNF. #4 A. Davison 30 laps

V8 SUPERCARS: SYDNEY TELSTRA 500 RACE 28 QUALIFYING RESULTS

1. #6 W. Davison 1:27.4562
2. #88 Whincup 1:27.6257
3. #5 Winterbottom 1:27.6985
4. #888 Lowndes 1:27.9087
5. #55 Dumbrell 1:27.9312
6. #1 Courtney 1:27.9995
7. #9 van Gisbergen 1:28.0197
8. #19 Webb 1:28.1328
9. #3 D’Alberto 1:28.1655
10. #33 Holdsworth 1:28.1786
17. #4 A. Davison 1.28.5542

IRWIN Racing is the first team to show off its new season war paint, taking advantage of a big crowd at the weekend’s Sydney Telstra 500 to wrap the new car and pull the covers off.

Team sponsor, IRWIN Tools, ran a nation-wide competition searching for the perfect design to showcase its colours. Bathurst based apprentice sign writer Sam Dwyer submitted several designs, and was a runaway winner.

For IRWIN Racing Team Principal Ross Stone, launching the 2012 colours early means that after the end of season Christmas break he can hit the season running.

“The IRWIN Racing Ford is looking really good, young Sam (Dwyer) has done an outstanding job designing it,” said IRWIN Racing Team Principal Ross Stone.

“We’ll tweak it a little, but I think everyone agrees that the IRWIN Ford will look really good when it hits the track next March.

“We’re really looking forward to next year, it’s almost like a fresh start, but we carry on with all the hard work that we’ve done this year.

“The homework’s all been done, we’ve just got to make sure we cook the cake right and it comes out good, which I am confident it will.”

Bathurst apprentice sign writer Sam Dwyer could not contain his excitement when he saw his artwork on the IRWIN Racing Ford.

“The car looks unbelievable, I can’t believe what I’m seeing,” said Sam Dwyer.

“I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out, it looks fantastic.

“I was trying to give it that corporate look. I wanted to keep it clean, simple, but effective. I wanted to give it a racey look but didn’t want to go over the top

“I’m looking forward to seeing the IRWIN Ford on the track at the Clipsal 500; I think that’s when everything will sink in. It’s been a whirlwind.”

IRWIN Tools Managing Director Nick Pritchard likes what he sees. With the announcement of IRWIN’s new driver and the livery revealed he is looking forward to the 2012 season.

“V8 Supercars is a big sport, to achieve success you’ve got to get well ahead of the game,” said Pritchard.

“We’ve learned over the years that the more prepared we are the better we will be during the year.

“Were probably more prepared this year than we have ever been before. Next year is an important year for us, so we are getting as many things as we can organised before we hit 2012 and the first event in Adelaide.”

Stone agrees with Prichard. With the 2011 season coming to an end, plans are already underway for the up and coming 2012 V8 Supercars championship.

“At the moment we go into the last event ninth in the championship, which is solid, but not spectacular,” said Stone.

“We always set goals, the goal for the team this year was to have all three cars in the top 12, which we are on target to do.

“I have a lot of ideas in my head in regard to next year already. We will sit down and talk about 2012 next week where I expect we’ll have high expectations.”

The all new 2012 IRWIN Racing livery will debut at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide, March 1-4, 2012.

After qualifying a lowly 27th position, he managed to advance the IRWIN Tools SBR Falcon past a number of other cars in the early stanza of the race on the tight confines of Sydney Olympic Park.

It soon became clear that the brakes on the blue and yellow machine were going to battle to the finish.

Mid-way through the 74 lap affair, to compound his difficulty, Davison damaged the steering on the #4 car. This led to the power steering cutting in and out – Davison mentioning that he didn’t know from one corner to another what he was going to find.

His second pitstop was compromised when the SBR team reacted to a Safety Car period in the window and brought Shane van Gisbergen and Davison in together. By virtue of better track position, van Gisbergen was the first to be serviced, forcing the third generation racer to wait.

Overall, the team were happy to extract a 12th place finish from where they started given the rate of attrition in the event.

Tomorrow Davison and the IRWIN Racing SBR Falcon return for a further 20 minute qualifying session and then another 250km battle around the venue for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The result keeps Davison in the top 10 on points – currently ninth. A three way battle between he, Fabian Coulthard and Tim Slade will decide 9th, 10th and 11th tomorrow.

What IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison had to say: 

“Our race was going fairly good until we ran into a number of problems,” said Davison. “I got away well and in the first stint was able to get past a number of cars, which is no mean feat around this place.

“Toward the end of the stint, I was struggling with brake fade – which made life difficult and by the end of the race, the pedal was virtually to the floor.

“Adding to that, the steering was damaged about halfway through the race and I wouldn’t know whether I’d have power steering or not – depending on which corner I was on.

“Having to double pit cost us some time, but that’s how things go, we had to come in at that time, otherwise it would have been a lot worse.

“I was able to limp the IRWIN Racing Falcon home in the end and hang onto it – but it was pretty tough out there.”

What IRWIN Racing’s engineer Dan Kroehn had to say: 

“Alex did a fantastic job under difficult circumstances today,” said Kroehn. “The amount of things that were thrown at him and how he drove around them showed true spirit.

“Qualifying didn’t go to plan, but to drive through from the back of the pack and survive a lack of brakes and a massive steering issue was impressive.

“The result has kept us in the top 10 and there is going to be a massive fight tomorrow for those last few positions.”

SYDNEY TELSTRA 500 CHALLENGE DETAILS:

Circuit: Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit
Location: Homebush, NSW
Circuit Length: 3.4km

Format:
Sunday: 1 X 20m qualifying, 1 x 65 lap/200km race
Tyres: Hard Tyres

2010 results:

2010 Saturday Qualifying Pole Winner: Lee Holdsworth
2010 Saturday Race Winner: Jonathan Webb
2010 Saturday Qualifying Pole Winner: Lee Holdsworth
2010 Sunday Race Winner: Lee Holdsworth

WEEKEND SCHEDULE
The times below are in Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time

Sunday, December 4:
Qualifying: 10.40am – 11.00am
Race 28: 3.05pm – 5.15pm (74 laps/250kms)

TELEVISION SCHEDULE
Times subject to amendment, please check local guides:

SEVEN NETWORK

Sunday, December 4
1.00pm – 5.30pm Qualifying & Race 28 (All markets)

15th might not be a place the average driver would be satisfied with, but Davison feels the IRWIN Tools Ford has the capability to improve and be a strong racer in tomorrow’s second last race of the season.

IRWIN Racing spent the two 30 minute practice sessions tuning the car and put a set of new tyres on with minutes left in the final session.

Davison’s time saw him jump into the top 10 after his first flying lap, but traffic prevented a second, resulting in Davison aborting the remainder of the session, electing to save his tyres for qualifying tomorrow.

Qualifying begins at 10.20am in the morning, followed by the top-10 shootout at 11.25am and the race at 3.05pm

What IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison had to say:

“I’m pretty happy with the car and our progress today considering we did the majority of our runs on some very old rubber which makes it a little more difficult but we were able to improve the car on them (tyres) which was promising. We put greens on at the end of the session and the car was really strong – we just needed a bit more time to get the most out of them but we’ll be right.”

What IRWIN Racing’s engineer Dan Kroehn had to say:

“We only had old tyres at our disposal today, having used all the good rubber in earlier rounds, so we were focussing more on a race set-up. We improved the IRWIN Ford in the second session, and improved the car on the old tyre. Alex was really happy with the balance in race trim. We only got one lap in on green tyres. A few cars went into the fence and it looked like there might be a red flag, so Alex opted to abort a second lap and save his tyres. We feel that we are in a good place heading into tomorrow.”

V8 SUPERCARS: SYDNEY TELSTRA 500 PRACTICE RESULTS

1. #88 Whincup 1:27.3813
2. #888 Lowndes 1:27.4767
3. #9 van Gisbergen 1:27.7744
4. #19 Webb 1:27.8325
5. #15 R. Kelly 1:27.8959
6. #6 W. Davison 1:27.9186
7. #5 Winterbottom 1:27.9394
8. #39 Ingall 1:28.0000
9. #33 Holdsworth 1:28.1318
10. #55 Dumbrell 1:28.1443
15. #4 A. Davison 1.28.4701

CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 10 AFTER 26 OF 28 RACES

1. #88 Jamie Whincup 3033 points
2. #888 Craig Lowndes 2845
3. #9 Mark Winterbottom 2449
4. #5 Shane van Gisbergen 2414
5. #2 Garth Tander 2388
6. #6 Will Davison 2345
7. #15 Rick Kelly 2211
8. #33 Lee Holdsworth 1857
9. #4 Alex Davison 1781
10. #8 Fabian Coulthard 1767

ALEX DAVISON CAREER STATISTICS

Event Starts: 58
Race Starts: 106
Best Finish: 2nd – Abu Dhabi, UAE, 2011 & Hidden Valley NT 2009
Best Qualifying: Pole – Hidden Valley NT 2010 – Sunday Race
Current Championship Position: 9th, 1664 points

2010 Saturday Qualifying: 8th
2010 Sunday Qualifying: DNF
2010 Saturday Race: 15th
2010 Sunday Race: 23rd
Best Sydney Telstra 500 Qualifying Result: 8th (Saturday 2010)
Best Sydney Telstra 500 Race Result: 9th (Sunday 2009)

SYDNEY TELSTRA 500 CHALLENGE DETAILS:

Circuit: Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit
Location: Homebush, NSW
Circuit Length: 3.4km

Format:

Saturday: 1 X 20m qualifying, 1 x Top 10 Shootout, 1 x 39 lap/120km race
Sunday: 1 X 20m qualifying, 1 x 65 lap/200km race
Tyres: Hard Tyres

2011 results:

2010 Saturday Qualifying Pole Winner: Lee Holdsworth
2010 Saturday Race Winner: Jonathan Webb
2010 Saturday Qualifying Pole Winner: Lee Holdsworth
2010 Sunday Race Winner: Lee Holdsworth

WEEKEND SCHEDULE
The times below are in Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time

Saturday, December 3:
Qualifying: 10.20am – 10.40am
Top 10 Shootout: 11.25am – 11.55am
Race 27: 3.05pm – 5.15pm (74 laps/250kms)

Sunday, December 4:
Qualifying: 10.40am – 11.00am
Race 28: 3.05pm – 5.15pm (74 laps/250kms)

TELEVISION SCHEDULE
Times subject to amendment, please check local guides:

SEVEN NETWORK

Saturday, December 3:
1.30pm – 5.30pm Qualifying, Top 10 Shootout & Race 27 (All markets)

Sunday, December 4
1.00pm – 5.30pm Qualifying & Race 28 (All markets)

Davison made an impressive start to the season, finishing eight of the first 14 races in the top 10 and began the year with a first up second place podium in Abu Dhabi.

The last 12 races of the season, going into this weekend’s final event of the year, have so far only netted Davison three top 10 finishes, putting pressure on his place in the championship top 10.

The second half of the season has been frustrating for the Queensland based IRWIN Tools driver, particularly at events after Phillip Island.

At Bathurst, Davison’s co-driver David Brabham hit Jack Perkins resulting in a drive-through, at the Gold Coast his German partner Marc Lieb was hit from behind causing vast damage to the IRWIN Ford, and at the recent Tasmanian and Sandown rounds he was hit by James Courtney and Russell Ingall respectively, losing several places and lots of points on both occasions.

These situations have seen the gap between Davison and those behind him in the championship table whittle down, making this weekend’s final two races of the year critical in-terms of holding his place in the top 10.

Davison is only 76 points adrift of Lee Holdsworth in eighth place, which is within his grasp, but he is also only 14 points ahead of Fabian Coulthard and 57 points in front of Tim Slade – both drivers of which have shown good form in recent rounds.

The IRWIN Tools Ford Falcon has been very competitive of late, and had the recent incidents not occurred, Davison would have been sitting in a very comfortable place. Instead, Davison will be fighting for every point to maintain his place in the top 10.

Despite the predicament , Davison is feeling confident going into this weekend’s final event of the V8 Supercars Championship and is not only aiming to maintain his top 10 position, but believes that he could be a contender for a podium in what will be his final appearance for IRWIN Racing.

The Sydney Telstra 500 kicks off this Friday.

What IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison had to say:

“Since Phillip Island we’ve had such a bad run, all of which have been out of my control. We keep getting involved in other people’s accidents and this hasn’t helped our cause when it comes to strengthening our position in the top 10. Because of this we are coming into this weekend feeling a little bit vulnerable, but I won’t be thinking about that out on the track. My goal is to get the best result possible at Sydney and then we’ll see what happens with the championship. We were running really well there last year before the rain storm hit and took us out, and then we were running in the top few on Sunday before a rear hub failed. So we should be competitive and I’m feeling pretty confident but obviously it would be pretty frustrating to fall out of the top 10 in the last race when you’ve been there all year.”

What IRWIN Racing’s engineer Dan Kroehn had to say:

“We’ve got a bit of work to do; the last several events didn’t turn out how we thought they would, particularly after running so well. The points we lost really brought (Fabian) Coulthard and (Tim) Slade back to us and puts a bit of pressure on us to stay in the top 10. Having been ninth most of the year, it would be frustrating; it would be devastating to finish out of the ten. Being in the 10 is a big step forward on where the team has finished in the last two seasons, to finish in the 10 also gives you a fair amount of credibility, given the competitiveness of the drivers and the teams in the championship. We’ll try and get a podium or a race win and try not to think about what the others are doing. We’ve had a good car recently and I believe IRWIN Racing is capable of holding its ninth place in the championship.”

CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 10 AFTER 26 OF 28 RACES

1. #88 Jamie Whincup 3033 points
2. #888 Craig Lowndes 2845
3. #9 Mark Winterbottom 2449
4. #5 Shane van Gisbergen 2414
5. #2 Garth Tander 2388
6. #6 Will Davison 2345
7. #15 Rick Kelly 2211
8. #33 Lee Holdsworth 1857
9. #4 Alex Davison 1781
10. #8 Fabian Coulthard 1767

ALEX DAVISON CAREER STATISTICS

Event Starts: 58
Race Starts: 106
Best Finish: 2nd – Abu Dhabi, UAE, 2011 & Hidden Valley NT 2009
Best Qualifying: Pole – Hidden Valley NT 2010 – Sunday Race
Current Championship Position: 9th, 1664 points

2010 Saturday Qualifying: 8th
2010 Sunday Qualifying: DNF
2010 Saturday Race: 15th
2010 Sunday Race: 23rd
Best Sydney Telstra 500 Qualifying Result: 8th (Saturday 2010)
Best Sydney Telstra 500 Race Result: 9th (Sunday 2009)

SYDNEY TELSTRA 500 CHALLENGE DETAILS:

Circuit: Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit
Location: Homebush, NSW
Circuit Length: 3.4km

Format:

Friday: 4 x 30min practice sessions
Saturday: 1 X 20m qualifying, 1 x Top 10 Shootout, 1 x 39 lap/120km race
Sunday: 1 X 20m qualifying, 1 x 65 lap/200km race
Tyres: Hard Tyres

2010 results:

2010 Saturday Qualifying Pole Winner: Lee Holdsworth
2010 Saturday Race Winner: Jonathan Webb
2010 Saturday Qualifying Pole Winner: Lee Holdsworth
2010 Sunday Race Winner: Lee Holdsworth

WEEKEND SCHEDULE
The times below are in Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time

Friday, December 2:
Practice 1: 10.35am – 11.05am
Practice 2: 11.55am – 12.25pm
Practice 3: 1.15pm – 1.45pm
Practice 4: 2.55pm – 3.25pm
Meeting Rides: 4.30pm

Saturday, December 3:
Qualifying: 10.20am – 10.40am
Top 10 Shootout: 11.25am – 11.55am
Race 27: 3.05pm – 5.15pm (74 laps/250kms)

Sunday, December 4:
Qualifying: 10.40am – 11.00am
Race 28: 3.05pm – 5.15pm (74 laps/250kms)

TELEVISION SCHEDULE
Times subject to amendment, please check local guides:

SEVEN NETWORK

Saturday, December 3:
1.30pm – 5.30pm Qualifying, Top 10 Shootout & Race 27 (All markets)

Sunday, December 4
1.00pm – 5.30pm Qualifying & Race 28 (All markets)

The IRWIN Ford Falcon will be wrapped over the course of the weekend live in the V8 Supercars paddock, with the final design being revealed at 12.45pm, just prior to the final race of the season.

The design of the car has been kept a secret after IRWIN Tools went to the community asking for people to submit designs through its ‘Create Something Great – Design the IRWIN V8’ competition.

Run throughout October and November, designs were sent in from all over Australia, with the winning designer coming from Bathurst.

Sam Dwyer, an apprentice sign writer, submitted his design and after careful consideration the judges from IRWIN Tools and Stone Brothers Racing agreed that it was the best.

Dwyer, who dreams of working in V8 Supercars, was thrilled to have won.

“I can’t believe it, I am lost for words, designing a V8 Supercar and seeing it on the grid is like a dream come true,” said Sam Dwyer.

“I’ve been drawing cars since I was little so to be told that my design would be on the IRWIN Racing Ford is a pretty good feeling.

“I’m looking forward to seeing it; I can’t wait to see my design in the flesh. I can’t believe that my car design will be on the grid at the Clipsal 500 next year.”

Coming from Bathurst, Dwyer has been a fan of V8 Supercars for as long as he can remember. Having done graphic design at school, his dream is to become a full-time designer for one of the V8 teams.

“I did a bit of graphic design in school and always wanted to be a sign writer,” said Dwyer.

“Winning this competition gives me a start. I will definitely be putting my design into my portfolio and on the resume.

“I’m an apprentice at the moment, but I’ve always wanted to do sign writing for a V8 Supercar team.

“I spent some time at DJR (Dick Johnson Racing) watching their graphic designer to get an idea as to what they do.

“I sort of see winning this competition as a step towards a full-time career in V8 Supercars design – that’s where I want to go.”

Dwyer approached the IRWIN Racing design considering the look and feel of the IRWIN Tools logo, and the designs of the past.

“I pretty much thought of the colours that I had to use, came up with some concepts, started off with some shapes and then added the logos from the car,” said Dwyer.

“I was trying to give it that corporate look. I wanted to keep it clean, simple, but effective. I wanted to give it a racey look but didn’t want to go over the top.”

IRWIN Tools was impressed by the designs that Dwyer submitted and was thrilled to learn that he is involved in a trade.

“Sam (Dwyer) was one of the few people that submitted several designs, each of which was unique and different,” said Laura Turnbull, IRWIN Tools’ Marketing Director.

“It was a tough, but three of his designs made the final list really making Sam stand out from the rest. His artwork designs were excellent.

“For IRWIN Tools, which offers products to a wide range of industries and trades, it was also pretty exciting to hear that Sam is an apprentice sign writer who has an interest in not just V8 Supercars as a fan, but is keen to work within the industry.

“It’s nice to reward someone applying his trade, and an apprentice at that. He was elated when we told him that he’d won, and we are thrilled to be taking him to Sydney so that he can see his design on a real car.”

An IRWIN Racing car will be wrapped from Friday in the V8 Supercars paddock, next to the Stone Brothers Racing transporter, at the Sydney Telstra 500.

The livery will be revealed in full and Sam Dwyer’s signature added to the car at 12.45pm on Sunday.

In addition, as part of the prize, Dwyer will receive VIP treatment at the event. This includes entry to all three days of the Sydney Telstra 500, accommodation at the Park Royal in Parramatta, corporate hospitality on Sunday and a hotlap in the IRWIN Ford.

The design will feature on the starting grid at Adelaide’s CLIPSAL 500 – the first event of the 2012 V8 Supercars championship.

After qualifying a disappointing 20th; some strong pace, a good strategy and a quick pit stop elevated Alex Davison to 12th, with an eye firmly on the top 10.

With less than 20 laps to go, Davison was side by side with Russell Ingall and Steve Johnson going into the left hander at Dandenong Road, before being squeezed out by the Paul Morris Motorsport driver.

Ingalls move turned Johnson around and blocked Davison, who dropped from 12th to 17th.

In the last laps, Davison was able to improve to 15th, which is where he would finish, but it was too little too late for the fast finishing IRWIN Tools driver.

Davison is still hanging onto ninth place in the championship, but has Fabian Coulthard and Tim Slade biting at his heels wanting to take his place.

The final event of the 2011 V8 Supercars championship is in Sydney in a fortnight’s time.

What IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison had to say:

“It can’t get any worse, we had a pretty good comeback and could have snuck into the top 10 before another brain dead bloody idiot crashed into the back of me and caused an accident. Russell Ingall this week, last week it was (James) Courtney, it’s all the former SBR drivers that are attacking me for some reason. There was nothing I could do about it. I couldn’t have done anything to avoid it. I felt I drove a good race today, we were struggling with a lot of understeer, which made overtaking difficult, but we still came through the pack and it would have been a good recovery. It’s disappointing because when you look at the results, the people that I am battling against (for a place in the championship top 10) I was in front of. The last few race meetings have been so disappointing but we’re still in ninth going into Homebush.”

What IRWIN Racing’s engineer Dan Kroehn had to say:

“It was a top ten result lost. We worked pretty hard after qualifying to turn our form around. We got ourselves into a really good position in those second and third stints of the race. Alex had really good pace and his tyres were hanging on really well. We worked our way to the top 10 and then got caught up in an incident that was no fault of Alex’s. Alex hung in there and fought back, which was great. We lost a bit of ground to the guys sitting behind us in the championship, but we’ll take our confidence to Sydney and make sure we consolidate our ninth position in the series.”

CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 10 AFTER 26 OF 28 RACES

1. #88 Jamie Whincup 3033 points
2. #888 Craig Lowndes 2845
3. #9 Mark Winterbottom 2449
4. #5 Shane van Gisbergen 2414
5. #2 Garth Tander 2388
6. #6 Will Davison 2345
7. #15 Rick Kelly 2211
8. #33 Lee Holdsworth 1857
9. #4 Alex Davison 1781
10. #8 Fabian Coulthard 1767

V8 SUPERCARS: SANDOWN RACE 26 RESULTS

1. #88 Whincup 65 Laps
2. #5 Winterbottom
3. #6 W. Davison
4. #888 Lowndes
5. #2 Tander
6. #9 van Gisbergen
7. #47 Slade
8. #33 Holdsworth
9. #15 R. Kelly
10. #49 Owen
15. #4 A. Davison

V8 SUPERCARS: SANDOWN RACE 26 QUALIFYING RESULTS

1. #88 Whincup 1:09.6789
2. #5 Winterbottom 1:09.7763
3. #33 Holdsworth 1:09.8377
4. #888 Lowndes 1:09.9141
5. #9 van Gisbergen 1:09.9600
6. #6 W. Davison 1:09.9711
7. #34 Caruso 1:10.0245
8. #55 Dumbrell 1:10.0316
9. #47 Slade 1:10.1120
10. 18 Moffat 1:10.2230
20. #4 A. Davison 1:10.3826

Constant rain prior to, and during the race, made racing almost impossible, with a lot of standing water on the track and cars going off continuously.

Starting at the rear of the grid, thanks to a batch of faulty tyres in qualifying, Davison drove sensibly to steadily make his way through field.

Davison was almost looking like he would finish in, or just outside the top 10, which would have been a remarkable result given the conditions, but several late race safety cars saw him hit on at least three occasions at the re-start – each time losing him position.

Davison did everything he could to earn as many points as possible, with his performance maintaining his ninth place in the championship.

At Sandown Raceway tomorrow, qualifying begins at 11.15am followed by the final race of the weekend at 3.35pm.

What IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison had to say:

“Immediately the IRWIN Ford was a million times better than qualifying, we were competitive. Although I was struggling at the start with a lack of visibility, the pace was quite good and we could pick off a few spots. We kept the same set of tyres for the entire race which meant at the end they were destroyed, they had no grip left, they were worn out. I got hit from behind on a couple of the re-starts, which was frustrating because I was trying to have a clean race. A couple of those at the end could have put me off the road, they lost me a couple of spots but I was able to hang on, so it could have been a lot worse. At least the car was strong and the pace was good. If we have another wet qualifying tomorrow I’m confident we won’t be at the back.”

What IRWIN Racing’s engineer Dan Kroehn had to say:

“It’s always going to be a tough day when you are starting last. It’s even tougher when it’s wet the whole race. Visibility for everyone was terrible, which was the biggest struggle. We had a much better car in the race having identified the issue that we had with the tyres this morning during qualifying. Alex (Davison) drove a really good race, he erred on the side of caution as much as he could, we came through to take some championship points and we’ll come back tomorrow and hope that we can achieve a better result.”

CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 10 AFTER 25 OF 28 RACES

1. #88 Jamie Whincup 2883 points
2. #888 Craig Lowndes 2725
3. #9 Shane van Gisbergen 2312
4. #5 Mark Winterbottom 2311
5. #2 Garth Tander 2277
6. #6 Will Davison 2216
7. #15 Rick Kelly 2127
8. #33 Lee Holdsworth 1767
9. #4 Alex Davison 1721
10. #8 Jason Bright 1698

V8 SUPERCARS: SANDOWN RACE 25 RESULTS

1. #15 R.Kelly 39 Laps
2. #1 Courtney
3. #7 T. Kelly
4. #6 W. Davison
5. #9 van Gisbergen
6. #888 Lowndes
7. #5 Winterbottom
8. #2 Tander
9. #61 Coulthard
10. #49 Owen
16. #4 A. Davison

V8 SUPERCARS: SANDOWN RACE 25 QUALIFYING RESULTS

1. #15 R. Kelly 1:19.8997
2. #88 Whincup 1:20.1049
3. #6 W. Davison 1:20.5047
4. #9 van Gisbergen 1:20.8218
5. #47 Slade 1:20.8371
6. #16 Reynolds 1:20.8709
7. #55 Dumbrell 1:20.8715
8. #1 Courtney 1:20.8825
9. #49 Owen 1:21.0096
10. #2 Tander 1:21.0517
28. #4 A. Davison 1:23.2293

NORTON 360 SANDOWN CHALLENGE DETAILS:

Circuit: Sandown Raceway
Location: Melbourne, VIC
Circuit Length: 3.1km

Format:
Sunday: 1 X 20m qualifying, 1 x 65 lap/200km race
Tyres: Soft Tyres

2010 results:

2010 Saturday Qualifying Pole Winner: Paul Dumbrell
2010 Sunday Race Winner: James Courtney

WEEKEND SCHEDULE
The times below are in Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time

Sunday, November 20:
Qualifying: 11.15am – 11.35am
Race 26: 3.35pm – 5.15pm (84 laps/200kms)

TELEVISION SCHEDULE
Times subject to amendment, please check local guides:

SEVEN NETWORK

Sunday, November 20
2.30pm – 5.30pm Qualifying & Race 26 (All markets)

It was a good day of development for IRWIN Racing. In its first session it was in a lowly 22nd place, struggling with balance, but after some changes Alex Davison was able to improve his best time by more than seven-10ths of a second, rocketing him up into the top five.

If it was a strong start for IRWIN Racing, it was even better for Stone Brothers Racing which had all three of its cars in the top five for practice with Tim Slade finishing second, Shane van Gisbergen fourth and Davison in fifth.

After experiencing extreme heat at the track today, temperatures in Melbourne will drop over night, with rain expected tomorrow. This will make qualifying and the first race of the weekend a lot more challenging.

At Sandown Raceway tomorrow, qualifying begins at 11.15am followed by the race at 4.05pm.

What IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison had to say:

“Fifth place is reasonably good. I was pretty unhappy with the IRWIN Ford at the start of practice, it wasn’t competitive at all. After some work, it ended up being quite a good car at the end of practice. We’ve not always been able to recover like that so that’s clearly good work from everyone. (Tim) Slade was competitive from the outset, we worked as a team, took some of the settings from him and it helped us. It was a similar situation for car nine. We’ve got a little bit more to go, but it’s pleasing to recover after a difficult start.”

What IRWIN Racing’s engineer Dan Kroehn had to say:

“We are very happy with fifth position today. We had a few little chassis imbalances that we had to work through after the first session, so we sat down and worked on a plan for the second session and made progress in exactly the right places. Fifth is good, we’re a couple of tenths off first so we’re still looking for a bit more speed tonight. We’ll knuckle down and see if we can find some extra time that will qualify us on the first couple of rows of the grid for tomorrow’s race.”

V8 SUPERCARS: SANDOWN PRACTICE RESULTS

1. #5 Winterbottom 1:10.6030
2. #47 Slade 1:10.6153
3. #88 Whincup 1:10.6374
4. #9 van Gisbergen 1:10.7837
5. #4 A. Davison 1:10.8165
6. #39 Ingall 1:10.8536
7. #6 W. Davison 1:10.8847
8. #61 Coulthard 1:10.8952
9. #55 Dumbrell 1:10.9368
10. #34 Caruso 1:10. 9495

ALEX DAVISON CAREER STATISTICS

Event Starts: 58
Race Starts: 104
Best Finish: 2nd – Abu Dhabi, UAE, 2011 & Hidden Valley NT 2009
Best Qualifying: Pole – Hidden Valley NT 2010 – Sunday Race
Current Championship Position: 9th, 1664 points

2010 Saturday Qualifying: 17th
2010 Sunday Qualifying: 24th
2010 Saturday Race: 15th
2010 Sunday Race: 21st
Best Sandown Qualifying Result: 13th – 2006/07 (Endurance races)
Best Sandown Race Result: 14th – 2009

NORTON 360 SANDOWN CHALLENGE DETAILS:

Circuit: Sandown Raceway
Location: Melbourne, VIC
Circuit Length: 3.1km

Format:

Saturday: 1 X 20m qualifying, 1 x 39 lap/120km race
Sunday: 1 X 20m qualifying, 1 x 65 lap/200km race
Tyres: Soft Tyres

2010 results:

2010 Saturday Qualifying Pole Winner: Jamie Whincup
2010 Saturday Race Winner: Paul Dumbrell
2010 Saturday Qualifying Pole Winner: Paul Dumbrell
2010 Sunday Race Winner: James Courtney

WEEKEND SCHEDULE
The times below are in Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time

Saturday, November 19:
Qualifying: 11.15am – 11.35am
Race 25: 4.05pm – 5.15pm (39 laps/120kms)

Sunday, November 20:
Qualifying: 11.15am – 11.35am
Race 26: 3.35pm – 5.15pm (84 laps/200kms)

TELEVISION SCHEDULE
Times subject to amendment, please check local guides:

SEVEN NETWORK

Saturday, November 19:
3.00pm – 5.30pm Qualifying & Race 25 (All markets)

Sunday, November 20
2.30pm – 5.30pm Qualifying & Race 26 (All markets)