The key to Holden's success is around the design of their car, which uses composite material on the bonnet, roof and boot of the new car compared to steel that is used in the Fords and Nissans. Parity in weight is achieved however with the Holdens needing to carry additional weight but they have managed to put that in the floor of their cars, giving them a lower centre of gravity and ability to corner better than their rivals.
"There is no doubt they have done a great job of engineering that car but they have certainly been able to secure some freedoms that have not been afforded to other marques in the past and they have exploited them to a maximum," Tickford Racing boss Tim Edwards told the Herald.
"Whenever this happens in a point in time it frees it up for the incumbents to also do the same.
"It wasn't until we saw that car and then started hearing the rumours about its level of weight, and you start to see pictures inside it and you realise what the freedoms they've been afforded are.
"As a Ford competitor we now need to get on our bike and submit for some changes to our car. It puts you on the back foot a bit at the start."
Edwards knew before the season started that the Holden design was going feature composite parts but not to the full extent.
"We had a bit of an idea beforehand that a couple of the big pieces were like that but I don't think anyone had any idea until we looked in the boot of their cars in the February test and most people's jaws hit the deck," he said. "There were a lot of composite pieces in that car. We knew they were doing the roof skin but that was one of about 20 parts that were composite."
Naturally the leading Ford and Nissan teams will start trying to implement the same features to their cars but that process takes time.
There is less than three weeks to the next round at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne and they'll be facing an uphill battle to get the changes through.
"It is just a process we have to work through," Edwards explained. "We are always re-homologating certain parts of your car. There is the design process then the approval from Supercars.
"It would be great if we could have something on our cars for the AGP but I would say that is unrealistic.
"It will be over the next couple of months we will hopefully be phasing in some upgrades."
That gives the Holden teams — Red Bull Holden Racing drivers van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup in particular — a major advantage through the opening rounds.
"It is what it is," Edwards said. "There is no point looking at it like it is Mt Everest and we can't climb it. We deal with this kind of thing week in and week out.
"This is one thing people are talking about at the moment that there is a disparity there but we are still racers and we believe in a lot of other things we are doing that we think are better than what they are doing."
