Larry Perkins, who had continued to race the well developed VK rather than upgrade to the VL (which both Brock and Allan Grice reported small teething problems throughout the 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship), was forced to replace his VK when it was badly damaged on just the second lap at Bathurst with a HDT VL, debuting VL in the Bob Jane T-Marts 500 WTCC round at Calder Park Raceway a week after Bathurst. He later qualified his new car on pole and led the early laps of the Group A support race for the 1987 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide before tyre wear and failing brakes on the demanding Adelaide Street Circuit forced him to drop back to 3rd at the finish. In the 1988 Australian Touring Car Championship Perkins ran the VL as the official factory team backed by the then new Holden Special Vehicles (later to be replaced by the Holden Racing Team). Against the lighter (by approximately ) and more powerful (by up to ) Ford Sierras, as well of the introduction of the new Nissan Skyline GTS-R turbo, Perkins and the VL simply didn't have the speed to successfully compete for wins in the ATCC's shorter sprint races, while the weight of the car () usually saw heavy tyre wear. His best result being 3rd in Round 7 at Sandown after some of the faster Sierras had struck mechanical trouble. Perkins would go on to finish 7th overall in the championship.