Holdsworth linked to WAU Bathurst 1000 drive

After announcing his impending retirement from full-time racing, Holdsworth immediately become hot property on the co-driver market.

That's not only due to him coming straight out of a full-time seat, but also based on the excellent job he did partnering Chaz Mostert to Great Race glory in 2021.

However there may not be much of a fight for his services, with paddock speculation suggesting a reunion with WAU is highly likely.

In fact, some sources are suggesting it was part of WAU releasing him from a multi-year co-driver deal to take up the full-time ride with Grove Racing – either as an official clause or a handshake deal.

Speaking on the Castrol Motorsport News podcast Holdsworth played down talk of an existing deal with WAU.

However he did admit to being relaxed about his prospects of a top drive for the Bathurst 1000 next year.

"Look, at this stage I’m not really focused on where I’m going to be at for enduros," he said.

"I haven’t signed anything yet for next year. I’m pretty relaxed about it and I think that stuff will play itself out.

"No one really likes to talk about enduros until around that Bathurst time or shortly after, so I just want to completely focus on the job ahead. I have still got four rounds ahead of me to do the best job I can for Penrite Racing and try to finish my full-time career on a high.

"So I think over the next month or so I’ll have something in place.

"I’m just excited obviously to finish this year off with some results, and then to have that chance to come back and win Bathurst is really exciting for me."

Holdsworth also admitted that he genuinely thought about sticking with WAU this year instead of taking the single-year, full-time deal with the Groves.

"That was one of the things I had to weigh up this year – do I want to come back and challenge for who knows what position?" he said.

"I didn’t really know where [Grove Racing] was going to be at this year, but I knew that if I went again with WAU, with Chaz, if that was to happen again, that I would have another shot at winning Bathurst because we rolled out a pretty bloody good car last year and no doubt they’ll have a good one again this year."

Holdsworth added that he plans on this next phase of his career as a co-driver going for as long as a decade.

"A lot of people sitting at home probably don’t realise how much [Bathurst] means to us all – you can have a shocker of a year and then have that one good race and everything else means nothing.

"And the good thing is, with enduro drivers, there’s guys like [Warren Luff] and [Craig Lowndes] that will be around for a long time yet. Those guys just keep coming back and doing a great job as enduro drivers.

"So you could be endurance driving, having a shot at winning Bathurst, for the next five to 10 years and that excites me."