There are clouds hanging over Clayton however. Just next door to the Holden Racing Team’s main headquarters, the Toll HSV Dealer Team, another beneficiary of Walkinshaw Performance and the ‘sister’ team of the HRT, was approved by TEGA on the original deadline. Team owners John and Margaret Kelly were given tick by TEGA and did not require any of the extensions offered to the Holden Racing Team.
TEGA is at a crossroads. If the Holden Racing Team is in breach of its licensing agreement, any sports fan, especially in Australia, would expect the book to be thrown at the team. The history of the nation’s football codes shows that serious breaches, such as violating the league salary cap, are handed severe penalties. The Carlton (Australian Rules) Football Club was stripped of its top draft picks for breaches during 2002; whilst the Canterbury Bulldogs (Rugby League) lost a place in the finals after the NRL fined the club and stripped the team of all points won during the season.
Even motorsport on an international level has seen serious breaches of regulations penalised. During the 2005
FIA Formula One World Championship, British American Racing were found guilty of running an illegal fuel tank at the San Marino Grand Prix, and were subsequently stripped of all competition points won to that stage of the championship, and were banned from the following two races.
However the Holden Racing Team is the biggest team in the V8 Supercar Championship, with one of the biggest fan bases in Australian sport. No other team has won more races, more championships or more Bathursts than the HRT.
If the Holden Racing Team is found guilty of contract breaches, TEGA will need to decide whether the sporting fairness or commercial interests of V8 Supercars take preference in this heated issue.
![HRT will campaign a brighter livery in 2007, after adopting day-glo red for its VE Commodores [pic HRT media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/289139.jpg)
