Former V8 Supercars champion Russell Ingall has agreed to a deal with Holden outfit Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport to contest his 19th straight season.
Ingall, known to all as The Enforcer, confirmed the move on Tuesday, ending speculation he could end one of motorsports’s longest drives.
Despite his 2013 campaign being badged “the last stand”, Ingall withdrew his intentions to leave the sport and secured the team’s sole car after brokering a deal.
Ingall has revealed, however, his 19th season nearly didn’t happen.
“Over Christmas I’d resigned myself to the fact it was going to be endurance racing and that was going to be me,” he said.
“Call it ego or whatever it was, I wasn’t sure how comfortable I felt with that.”
When the opportunity arose to join the young team, Ingall said the advice from his wife, Julia, helped tip him over the line.
“She said `What else have you got to prove? Who cares if you go with a team where people are going to say why are you going to do that to yourself?’,” he said.
“I’m not naive enough not to take female input even though our sport is dominated by men.”
“I mean, I could run around the back of the field and look like a flog but I reckon I’ll be alright.”
Alongside helping an emerging team take the step up, Ingall said once he’d made the decision he was full of reasons to keep going.
“As long as I’m still competitive, I finished top 10 in Homebush and got a podium last year when probably three quarters of the field didn’t get near a sniff of one.
“Plus I’m not the most unpopular driver going round.”
The two-time Bathurst champion is excited about the prospect of racing the Commodore across the season, which begins with the Adelaide’s Clipsall 500 on March 1-2.
“It’s Triple Eight built, the car that won the championship last year, so it’s a nice little toy to play with,” he said.
Ingall will have his first run in his new car – a Triple Eight Race Engineering-built Holden Commodore VF – to be badged number 23, next weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park.