For the Red Army that has followed the Holden Racing Team for a quarter of a century, they are torn between the demise of what was for so long the lead Lion racing team and the promise of its new iteration from next year.

HRT – as fans and followers of V8 racing have known it since 1990 – ends on Sunday in the final race of the Supercars season at the Sydney 500.

Next year, the HRT mantle as the main factory-backed Holden team will be switched from Walkinshaw Racing to Triple Eight Race Engineering, the dominant Supercars team for the past several years.

Triple Eight's pace-setting duo of Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen will race under the Red Bull Holden Racing Team banner.

Holden has consolidated its factory backing with Triple Eight for the next three years following serial under-performances by the Walkinshaw-run HRT squad since 2010.

But the change has divided Holden fans, the vast majority of whom still carry a torch for HRT and have never really warmed to Triple Eight's clinical approach to winning.

HRT has been run by the Walkinshaw family, in concert with its HSV hot Holdens road car business, for most of the past 26 years.

It was founded by the late Tom Walkinshaw, whose TWR global automotive and racing empire had success in touring cars, sports cars and Formula One until its financial collapse in early 2003.

Walkinshaw regained control of HRT from interim caretaker, V8 legend Mark Skaife, in 2008, but since his death at the end of 2010, the team has been a shadow of its former glory.

Holden Racing Team is still the best known and most followed outfit in Supercars, and until recently it was the most successful historically.

Sunday's final race of the last-ever Sydney 500 is the end of the Walkinshaw HRT era and also the team's farewell to stalwart star Garth Tander, the team's longest serving driver.

In 2017, Walkinshaw Racing will continue racing Holden Commodores, but the HRT operation will be rebranded and Tander will be replaced alongside James Courtney by DJR Team Penske reject Scott Pye.

Team owner Ryan Walkinshaw, the eldest son of founder Tom, admits that his squad's final appearance as HRT will be emotional, but far from the end of the road.

"Obviously, there's going to be a lot of promotion surrounding it, but we've already moved on as a group," Walkinshaw told Fairfax Media. "We welcome challenges and we see change as opportunity. So whilst there's an emotive angle to it and we'll pay respect to our traditions and heritage, there's also a lot of optimism about the future."

Within Walkinshaw Racing, there is a belief that freed from the shackles of being the 'Official Factory Team Of Holden', the team will prosper commercially and more than replace Holden's annual $2 million sponsorship.

There is speculation that the team will compete next year as HSV Racing, emphasising the renewed long-term link between the Walkinshaw Group and Holden in the production of high-performance road cars after the end of local production of the Commodore late next year.

It is believed Holden have signed a new 10-year deal with the Walkinshaw family to develop enhanced performance version of some of the company's new imported models from 2018.

There is also the prospect that one of HRT's long-time sponsors – like fuel and lubricants giant Mobil – will step up to title backing of the new-look Walkinshaw Racing two-car Holden team.

Ryan Walkinshaw is confident his organisation's history and heritage with the HRT brand will ensure it will still be regarded as Team Red by its huge fan base.

"At the end of the day, if it hadn't been for Walkinshaw Racing, HRT's brand value would never have existed," he said. "It's been a great relationship between Walkinshaw and Holden – there's been a lot of value for both sides – but that's the past and tomorrow's the future.

"I'm yet to hear a single fan I've spoken to say they'll be migrating across (to Triple Eight). They've all seem very supportive, which has been fantastic and just further demonstrates the passion that so many fans have had for our team for such a long time.

"There's no denying the rivalry between Walkinshaw and Triple Eight, and I definitely think there are fans who'd prefer (the HRT brand to moved to) anyone else but Triple Eight. But some will move across, which is fine, and it gives us an opportunity to find and acquire a new fan base that move over from other teams to us."

Walkinshaw confirmed that, subject to final sponsorship negotiations, the team's new identity from next year is all but locked in.

"There are still a couple of moving parts, but on the whole, we're pretty confident about what it's going to be called and how it's going to look," he said. "We'll obviously be respectful to our history and heritage, but (no longer being the Holden Racing Team) gives us an opportunity to reinvigorate who we are and what we do, and hopefully we'll have some exciting announcements coming before the beginning of the season."