Neal shunts new Holden in Australia

Neal, who had successfully negotiated pre-qualifying in the new machine, lost control and hit the wall at the start of the main straight during the qualifying session for the eighth round of the Shell-backed series, wrecking the right-hand side of the car.

The chassis, which was just a handful of laps old, was the result of hundreds of hours of work by the Gold Coast-based team, but will now be stripped and turned into scrap. A new body shell will be sourced and work will begin this week on a new car, which the team is hoping to have together for the V8 1000 at Bathurst on October 4-7.

The shunt means that team leader Paul Morris will have to start his old Big Kev Commodore in next month's VIP Petfoods 500 at Queensland Raceway, where he is scheduled to share with Neal.

Morris won round seven of the series in his four year-old car at Calder Park in Melbourne a fortnight ago.

"Obviously it has been disappointing for everyone involved, but that's the way this sport can go sometimes," said Morris. "We will need to re-group and start building a new car as soon as possible. We have proven this year that our old car is capable of being very competitive and I think we go to Queensland Raceway with a real good chance."