Very short afternoon in Sydney for IRWIN Racing

IRWIN Racing's Lee Holdsworth has had his afternoon at the opening race of the Sydney Telstra 500 end before the race officially began.

When the green flag was waved for the formation lap, Holdsworth was left on his 17th grid position with a driveline failure.

Lee Holdsworth, Irwin Racing

Photo by: John Maricic

The car was pushed to the pit exit, but it was soon apparent it was not to be a quick-fix and the IRWIN Falcon was retired from the race.

Fortunately for Holdsworth his championship position of eighth remains intact after his rivals David Reynolds and Fabian Coulthard also experienced tough outings. Reynolds finished 17th, while Coulthard had his afternoon end in the garage.

Holdsworth and the IRWIN Racing team will re-group for tomorrow's final race of the season.

What Lee Holdsworth had to say: "Something broke there in the drive-line when I tried to take off from the line," said Holdsworth.

"I was selecting gears and it was spinning-up, but it was not driving the wheels.

"We are trying to hold onto eighth in the championship and this certainly doesn't help. We have come off the back of a podium at Winton and now to an absolute low here.

"We have a straight car for tomorrow and hopefully get some good points to round-out the year."

IRWIN