FEBRUARY 20, 2007
Scandals in Australia
Tom Walkinshaw is a name that has drifted out of the F1 scene in recent years but Walkinshaw, the former owner of Arrows, has been busying himself with other things, notably in the V8 Supercar series in Australia. Tom is rarely out of the newspapers and there has been an explosion of coverage overnight regarding his activities in V8 Supercars with the suggestion that the famous Holden Racing Team and reigning champions Toll HSV Dealer - two of the biggest motor racing outfits - have been banned from the 2007 V8 Supercar championship. With only two weeks to go before the start of the season this is big news. The problem is that the Touring Car Entrants Group, which licences V8 Supercar race teams, cancelled the licences of both teams over questions of ownership, as it believes that Tom Walkinshaw owns both teams. Under the rules two team cannot be owned by the same person. It seems that over the last few months there have been attempts to find who owns what but the teams have been backward in coming forward and so the ban will force the issue. Officially, HRT is owned by Mark Skaife while the Toll team is owned by the Kellys' father, John Kelly. Other reports say that a deal has already been done.