Triple Eight marks Gen3 debut with special livery

Triple Eight Race Engineering will mark its “biggest achievement” with a unique testing livery today at Queensland Raceway.

The two Red Bull Ampol Racing Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro’s will commence their journey to the Supercars season opener in Newcastle covered in blue for their on-track debut.

The look that also features the sponsors outlined in silver has been created by renowned motorsport livery designer Peter Hughes. 

The racing livery cars #97 and #88 will carry will be unveiled prior to the official Supercars test day at Sydney Motorsport Park on February 22. Prior to that, Triple Eight will host another session at Queensland Raceway on February 14.

The all blue Triple Eight Chevrolet Camaro Shane van Gisbergen will drive at Queensland Raceway today.Images: Mark Horsburgh/EDGE Photographics

It will be the second Chevrolet team to roll out a Gen3 racecar on track after Matt Stone Racing arrived at Queensland Raceway on Tuesday.

Whilst the Red Bull F1 team has showcased some well-known testing liveries over the years, this is not the first time the Red Bull Supercars squad has adopted a special pre-season scheme.

The Holden ZB Commodore Supercar on track at Norwell Motorplex in a testing livery in 2017. Photo: Supplied

When Triple Eight Race Engineering switched camps from Ford to Holden in 2010, the new silver and red Team Vodafone look on its VE Commodore was covered up by various white stickers.

Seven years later the next testing livery arrived for the development of the Holden ZB Commodore, which was set to be introduced to the category in 2018.

The look resembled what became the Red Bull Holden Racing Team’s 2018 scheme, albeit in black and white and with minimal sponsors.

There will be more colour on the 2023 edition as Shane van Gisbergen and Broc Feeney drive the first laps of their Gen3 race cars around the “Paperclip”.

Seeing the cars on track will be a big moment according to Triple Eight Race Engineering managing director Jamie Whincup after mammoth build up with the squad being the homologation team of the Chevrolet Camaro.

The special blue and silver covers all corners of the Camaro.Images: Mark Horsburgh/EDGE Photographics

“I can’t emphasise enough the enormous dedication our Triple Eight Race Engineering team has put into this Gen3 project,” he said.

“For three years our design team led by our Technical Director, Jeromy Moore have delivered Supercars, their partners and the millions of fans around the world an extremely high-quality racing product suited to our Australian conditions.

“More recently our manufacturing and car preparation teams have been working around the clock to make our first official test day this week.

“This project is no doubt Triple Eight Race Engineering’s biggest achievement. 

The blue test livery is Triple 8’s first on a Chevrolet Camaro Supercar race car. Images: Mark Horsburgh/EDGE Photographics

“To see two fully built, fully operational Red Bull Ampol Racing Chevrolet Camaros having their first run at Queensland Raceway will be beyond exciting for all of us.

“The Gen3 era is going to be amazing for Supercars and hopefully seeing our cars on track for the first time creates a huge buzz amongst fans, our Team Partners and members.

“I couldn’t be prouder of our team and what they’ve achieved – I look forward to watching Shane and Broc showcase our potential once we hit the track with everyone else.”

Hughes explained the testing livery was the brainchild of Supercars and he believes it allows the Camaro to reveal its personality.

“The idea for this unique test livery design came from the team at Triple Eight, so my input was to

bring to life that exciting vision,” he said.

“With the extra flexibility of a test day one off, we settled on one base colour of satin dark blue with contrasting chrome silver signage and details.

The sponsors retain their traditional places despite the new car and new look. Images: Mark Horsburgh/EDGE Photographics

“The temptation was to add more ‘designer’ detail to the livery, but we let the proportions and surfaces of the new Gen 3 Camaro do the talking, creating a dramatic and aggressive feel that really suits the Red Bull Ampol Racing Chevrolet Camaro. 

“The end result is stunning.”

Despite the changes to the livery and car, the driver and engineering line up remains unchanged.

Andrew Edwards will continue his ultra-successful partnership with van Gisbergen, while Feeney and Martin Short will team up once again.

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