Holden Racing Team

The joint venture between Tom Walkinshaw and Holden, established in 1987, created Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) as the vehicle for Holden's motor sport programme. TWR designed the Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV, homologated for racing in August 1988 after Holden Special Vehicles completed the required 500 units. For 1988 and 1989, the racing programme was contracted to Perkins Engineering, while a TWR-built car was raced by Tom Walkinshaw at the RAC Tourist Trophy and Bathurst 1000 in 1988. A planned full 1989 season with Win Percy and Neil Crompton was cancelled when the cars were deemed uncompetitive against the Ford Sierra RS500s.

In 1990 the operation was brought in house, with long-time TWR driver Win Percy moving to Melbourne as both driver and team manager. Percy competed at all Australian Touring Car Championship rounds except Mallala, where Neil Crompton substituted following a family bereavement. Percy's best qualifying position was sixth at Winton and best race result a third place at Lakeside.

At the Bathurst 1000, the team entered two cars. Against the wishes of Holden and Tom Walkinshaw, Percy recruited Allan Grice to co-drive the lead car, with Crompton joined by Brad Jones in the second. With Percy carrying a shoulder injury, Grice handled the bulk of the driving and the car won — an unexpected victory. The second car finished fifth.

In 1991 the VN Commodore was homologated. Percy and Grice teamed again at Bathurst, finishing second; the Crompton and Jones car retired after running out of fuel. Percy finished eighth in the championship both years.

For 1992, Tomas Mezera replaced Percy. Budget shortfalls and development of the VP Commodore limited competition to the Sandown, Lakeside and Eastern Creek rounds. At the Sandown 500, Mezera and Jones finished third; Win Percy and Grice finished fifth at Bathurst.

In 1993, budget problems were compounded by Castrol transferring its funding to Perkins Engineering. Wayne Gardner, the 1987 World 500cc champion, was signed alongside Mezera. The team's season was dominated by off-track politics: Gardner was suspended for two weeks before the Sandown 500 amid allegations of attempting to poach sponsors, and ultimately formed Wayne Gardner Racing for 1994. Gardner and Jones finished third at Bathurst. Jeff Grech commenced a long stint as team manager.

Peter Brock was signed for 1994, bringing substantial Mobil and NGK sponsorship. Brock took the round win at Eastern Creek — the HRT's first ever ATCC round win — and added second places at Sandown, Symmons Plains, Philip Island and Oran Park. For the endurance events, Craig Lowndes replaced the unavailable Rickard Rydell at the Sandown 500; after Lowndes crashed in the warm-up and spun mid-race, Brad Jones produced a stellar double stint to deliver a Bathurst second place.

For 1995 the VR Commodore was introduced. Lowndes and Greg Murphy shared the second car at the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 but finished neither race. Lowndes was announced as a full-time driver for 1996, replacing Mezera.

The 1996 season was HRT's dominant year. Following the acquisition of key personnel from Gibson Motorsport, Craig Lowndes won the ATCC, the Sandown 500 and the Bathurst 1000, the latter two in partnership with Greg Murphy. Brock finished fourth in the series. Murphy was hired as Lowndes's replacement for 1997 after Lowndes departed for F3000 in Europe.

The 1997 season was marked by mechanical failures with the VS Commodores, though the team recorded one-two finishes at Symmons Plains and Wanneroo.

For 1998, Lowndes returned and Mark Skaife succeeded Brock. Lowndes won the ATCC with Skaife third. At Bathurst, despite winning pole and leading much of the race, Lowndes and Skaife suffered tyre failures and finished sixth.

In 1999, Lowndes again won the ATCC with Skaife third despite Lowndes missing the Symmons Plains round after a car-destroying rollover at Calder. Cameron McConville deputised. At the Bathurst 1000, Lowndes and McConville finished second; Skaife and Paul Morris finished third.

Skaife won the 2000 championship with Lowndes third. At the Queensland 500 that year, Lowndes and Skaife won together.

In 2001, TWR Australia expanded to four cars through the formation of the two-car K-Mart Racing Team. Because a team could only race three cars under a Racing Entitlement Contract, Romano Racing's REC was leased. Jason Bright joined the team. Skaife and Tony Longhurst won the Bathurst 1000, with Skaife winning the series and Bright finishing third.

In 2002 Skaife again won the championship with Bright fourth. HRT won the first eight rounds of the season. At Bathurst, Skaife and Jim Richards won with Bright and Tomas Mezera finishing third.

In early 2003, Tom Walkinshaw Racing collapsed and the team was placed in administration. Holden purchased the team but, as manufacturers were prohibited from owning teams, it was quickly sold to Mark Skaife. The K-Mart team was purchased by John and Margaret Kelly, continuing as an HRT customer until the end of 2008.

Kelly's 2004 season ended in seventh, Skaife in twelfth — one of his worst seasons. For the 2005 endurance events, Kelly won at the historic V8 Supercars China Round at Shanghai International Circuit, the team's 50th round win and the first team to reach that milestone. Skaife and Kelly won the 2005 Bathurst 1000.

In 2006, Skaife won at Pukekohe and Wanneroo and Kelly at Surfers Paradise and Phillip Island. A controversial decision to split drivers for the endurance races — sending Garth Tander to drive with Skaife while Kelly joined his brother Rick at the HSV Dealer Team — proved unsuccessful, with the Skaife/Tander car crashing on lap 1 at Bathurst after a driveline failure.

In 2007, the new VE Commodore debuted. Skaife finished sixth and Kelly seventh. Skaife underwent appendix surgery before the Sandown 500, prompting a reshuffle.

In 2008, defending champion Garth Tander transferred from sister team HSV Dealer Team along with engineer Matthew Nielson and sponsor Toll. On 29 October, Skaife announced 2008 would be his last full-time season; at year's end he sold his 50% share in the team to Tom Walkinshaw.

With John and Margaret Kelly having formed their own team, HRT expanded to four cars — two under the HRT banner and two under the Walkinshaw Racing banner. One REC was purchased from WPS Racing and another acquired from V8 Supercars Australia. Will Davison took Skaife's seat. Tander and Davison won the Bathurst 1000, with Davison finishing second in the series. HRT won the teams' championship.

In 2010, Fabian Coulthard and Andrew Thompson replaced Paul Dumbrell and David Reynolds in the Walkinshaw Racing cars. Tander and Davison drove the HRT entries; the team finished seventh in the teams' championship overall.

With Will Davison departing for Ford Performance Racing for 2011, James Courtney joined the team. Courtney won in Abu Dhabi to open the season. Tander and Nick Percat won the Bathurst 1000; Tander finished fifth in the championship, Courtney tenth.

In 2012, the team scored no wins. Russell Ingall replaced Coulthard in the Walkinshaw car with Supercheap Auto sponsorship.

In 2013, the VF Commodore debuted. At Townsville 400 Tander led a team one-two, ending a 20-month winless drought. Tander also won at Phillip Island; Courtney won at Winton.

Tander and Courtney again drove in 2014, joined in the endurance events by Warren Luff and Greg Murphy. The team expanded with a customer car for James Rosenberg Racing driven by Nick Percat. Tim Slade replaced Ingall.

In 2015, Jack Perkins replaced the retiring Greg Murphy for the endurance races. Team 18, fielded with a customer car, became a stand-alone team the following year when James Rosenberg Racing returned its REC.

In 2016, with Supercheap Auto's sponsorship moving to Prodrive Racing Australia, the team downsized to two HRT entries. Tander and Luff won the Sandown 500.

In 2017, the team lost its Holden factory backing to Triple Eight Race Engineering. It continued to field two VF Commodores under the Mobil 1 HSV Racing banner; Scott Pye replaced Tander.

The team was rebranded as Walkinshaw Andretti United (WAU) in January 2018, with Andretti Autosport and United Autosports becoming 37.5% and 25% shareholders respectively. All Holden teams upgraded to the new Holden ZB Commodore for 2018. Scott Pye scored the team's first win under the new identity, in challenging conditions at the Melbourne 400.

For 2020, Bryce Fullwood and Chaz Mostert signed with the team. Mostert and Warren Luff claimed third at the season-ending Bathurst 1000. In 2021, Mostert won at Symmons Plains and Hidden Valley. Nick Percat rejoined the team, replacing Fullwood.

In May 2022, WAU confirmed the team would switch to Ford machinery from 2023. Ryan Wood replaced Percat for 2024; Mostert won the team's first race with Mustangs in Perth. In 2025, Mostert won the Supercars Championship, taking four wins during the season.

For 2026, the team further switched to Toyota GR Supras and was rebranded Walkinshaw TWG Racing, after United Autosports sold its stake and Andretti Autosport was taken over by TWG Motorsports. Mostert and Wood remained as drivers.

At the start of the 2007 season, a dispute erupted over the ownership of HRT. The Touring Car Entrants Group of Australia (TEGA) had hounded Skaife for more than four months for paperwork proving compliance with the Teams' Licence Agreement. Skaife was given until 12 March to provide evidence or risk removal from the V8 Touring Car Competition. He produced sufficient evidence and TEGA allowed HRT to continue racing. A commercial settlement was struck confirming Skaife — not Tom Walkinshaw, who was revealed to own a 50% stake in Skaife Sports — had ownership and control over the team. In December 2008, Skaife sold his remaining interest to Walkinshaw.

From 2016, WAU entered the Australian GT Championship with a factory-backed Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by John Martin and later Liam Talbot. Talbot moved to Porsche Carrera Cup Australia in 2019 and the GT programme was shut down.

This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.