Chevrolet joins Gen3 parity stoush

By Andrew Clarke

Ford is still at loggerheads with Supercars over a perceived aero imbalance which it believes could affect the competitiveness of its new Gen3 Ford Mustang. But the Chevrolet side of Supercars has described any move for a pre-season change as “nothing short of reckless”.

There are unlikely to be any changes ahead of the season opener on the streets of Newcastle, and probably not even until the Australian Grand Prix and Perth meetings have been raced.

AUTO ACTION believes Supercars is standing by its VCAT aero testing data with its Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro prototypes and is convinced the only way to fully verify claims of an imbalance is to go racing.

Ford is adamant there is an imbalance and is pushing for a third round of VCAT testing – before the first Gen3 season begins.

Andre Heimgartner was the fastest car at the offical Supercars Sydney test. Image: Supplied

Eleven of the top 12 fastest cars at the Supercars pre-season test in Sydney were all Chevrolet Camaros, prompting Grove Racing’s David Reynolds to express his displeasure at the situation. 

But if an issue is uncovered, there will not be enough time to manufacture any new components, should they be required, leaving the Ford teams at what their manufacturer believes is a disadvantage.

The stand-off has been causing behind-the-scenes tensions that are now bubbled into the public arena, starting with claims of a parity imbalance by Ford’s director of global motorsport, Mark Rushbrook (as reported in the last edition of AUTO ACTION).

Now the Chevrolet side is getting involved, with both Roland Dane and Jamie Whincup launching attacks on their rivals as people inside Supercars privately express their disappointment and talking about the Balance of Performance as now being known as the ‘Balance of Politics’.

“It’s a bit late in the piece. Aero testing was last October or November,” Whincup told News Limited at Red Bull Ampol Racing’s season launch.

Jamie Whincup is standing firm in his position in the Gen3 Supercars parity debate. Photo by Mark Horsburgh / LAT Images

“So to still be messing around with that this late in the piece, it’s nothing short of reckless because there is a point where we have got to build cars and get them to Newcastle.

“It’s all good to want to change the decorations, but there is a point where you have got to get the show on the road.

“So anyone suggesting that you change the decorations around at the last minute — all they are doing is putting the whole system under stress that it doesn’t need right now.

“We were ready to sign off on the car on the last day (of VCAT testing), and we are still ready to sign off on the car provided there are no changes. But the other side wants to keep changing things around, even though it’s quarter to midnight.

“It’s disappointing, but it is what it is. It’s actually putting a lot of stress on both sides.

“I can’t believe it has got to this point, but it has… anything could happen from here until Newcastle.”

Many of the Supercars teams tested their cars with extensive running last week as Triple Eight, Brad Jones Racing and Tickford ran race simulations with multiple cars – three for each of T8 and BJR and two for Tickford – and reported favourably back to Supercars about the race-ability of the cars.

The lap times at Winton were also quicker than the outgoing cars, with a 19.6 being recorded early in the day, undercutting the Supercars lap record by a tenth.

Ben Nightingale, who heads up Ford’s motorsport arm in Australia, was at Winton and said he is confident a solution will be found soon as the teams start to get their heads around the more than two million set-up options in the cars.

For more of the latest motorsport news pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION.

AUTO ACTION, Australia’s independent voice of motorsport