Holdsworth: Clash with Canto completely my fault.

Garry Rogers Motorsport rookie Lee Holdsworth has apologised to his teammate Dean Canto for spinning the 2005 V8 Development Series Champion at the second round of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship at Pukekohe.

Holdsworth finished the weekend in sixteenth place overall, after running consistently in the top twenty throughout all three races including the first reverse grid even for 2006. However during the final 140-kilometre sprint, Holdsworth went heavy under brakes into the turn-five hairpin, and despite attempting to avoid his teammate, tagged the rear of the sister Repco Valvoline Cummins Commodore.

"It was completely my fault," said Holdsworth - the youngest driver on the V8 Supercar grid.

"I got into the hairpin too deep under brakes and I actually tried to turn into the corner and avoid ploughing directly into him. But I ended up tagging the rear of his car and spinning him around.

"I feel really bad to have made such a mistake. It's one I'll make sure I learn from and make sure it doesn't happen again. Besides that, we had a pretty consistent sort of a weekend and picked up a bit of a bundle of championship points."

Canto's weekend was going reasonably well until his fuel tank began to leak with five laps to go in the final race - forcing the double Fujitsu Series champion to pit and retire from the race.

"I just dropped a wheel off coming onto the front straight and it must have bottomed out over the rough on the grass and put a hole in the fuel tank," Canto said.

"I'd got a reasonable start in that last race and made a pit stop early on lap 10 because I was being held up far too much by Warren Luff's car and I was losing time.

"Then Lee made a mistake coming in too fast to the hairpin and I was the poor guy who he hit - he apologised straight away and I appreciate that he did that. But he better not do it again or he can fix my car himself!"

After two championship events, Lee Holdsworth sits twentieth in the Drivers' Championship with teammate Dean Canto four places back in twenty-fourth position. The Repco Valvoline Cummins team is currently ranked twelfth in the Constructors' Championship.