Holdsworth explains oil leak drama

Penrite Racing could be facing an engine change on Lee Holdsworth’s car, which picked up an oil leak.

Holdsworth was ninth in opening VALO Adelaide 500 practice on Thursday.

The retiring driver’s session didn’t run smoothly, with Holdsworth pitting midway through the session.

The #10 Penrite Ford’s cabin filled with smoke, with oil leaking on the exhaust.

The team returned Holdsworth to the session, having been unable to resolve the issue in-session.

Holdsworth made up for lost time and fired to fourth, but was unable to improve due to a late red flag.

Teammate David Reynolds ended up 15th.

"It’s not the way I would have liked to have started the weekend,” he said.

“The smoke just filled up the whole cabin. Straight away I could tell it was oil smoke.

“The team wasn’t quite sure why it was happening but they got me back out fairly quickly.

"We’ll have a deeper look tonight and make sure it’s fixed properly.”

Holdsworth was pleased with the early pace of his car in what is his final full-time round.

However, he suggested an engine change could be “quite likely” ahead of Friday’s action.

“The positive thing is the car’s pretty strong,” he said.

“We didn’t make enough changes towards the direction I wanted because of the engine drama.

“I went through Turn 11, which is a left-hander, and got a puff of smoke in the cabin.

“I could smell it was engine oil… it’s leaking from somewhere.

“We need to rectify it, and we weren’t able to do that in practice.

“We tried to get a few more laps at the end."

Cars will return to the Adelaide Parklands Circuit for Practice 2 on Friday at 1:15pm local time.

Friday’s schedule will also feature ARMOR ALL Qualifying for Race 33 at 5:35pm.