Whincup: Ford Return was Logical Not Emotional
Jamie Whincup says there was no coup, and certainly there was no romance. It was, he says, just a logical progression which caused Triple Eight to switch back to the blue oval after 15 years with General Motors. AA’s ANDREW CLARKE spoke to Whincup overnight as Ford prepared to shock the Supercars world …
Jamie Whincup is fully aware of the magnitude of the decision for Triple 8 Race Engineering, aka Red Bull Ampol Racing, to switch back to its Ford roots for 2026 and beyond, but he says there has been nothing sinister at play.
There were no late-night clandestine meetings, just a series of conversations over a few weeks that landed Ford Performance the prize scalp of Australian motorsport.
Triple Eight has been the most successful team in Australian Motorsport and a massive percentage of its wins in Supercars and at Bathurst have come since its involvement with Holden and General Motors.
The Red Bull colours will race on a Ford for the first time in 2026.
Any time the biggest team in any sport makes a change of this magnitude, it is going to have a massive impact, and Triple Eight’s managing director is acutely aware of that. In our conversation with the seven-time Supercars champion, he was keen to point out his role is to the best thing for Triple Eight, and he feels this is the right decision at the right time:
“It is big news. It’s a huge, huge thing for Triple Eight,” he said from the States. “We assessed our manufacturer choice towards the middle of last year and then started to do a bit of due diligence on what was the best way forward.
“Not so much for now, but more for three, four, five years down the track. It opened up the conversation with Ford Performance. The more we spoke about it, the more it made complete sense to form a partnership. That’s exactly what we did.”
Jamie Whincup celebrates his first win in 2006 as a proud Ford driver.
He explained there was no direct approach by either party as such, it just evolved from the regular conversations that were being had between Whincup and Ford Performance’s Mark Rushbrook.
“Mark and I have spoken for the last few years on all things Supercars. So, it was just a natural progression. It wasn’t really one chasing the other. It just naturally happened that way.
“Literally, the timing was right for both of us. It was just a matter of … we were discussing something else and the topic came up and then it led to further things, and it’s now led to a deal to see us as Ford’s homologation team from 2026.”
The first few months of Gen3 were interesting times for Whincup and Rushbrook, and much was said in the heat of battle, but Whincup says there was no need to hand out olive branches or the like – it was a case of understanding where the two parties were at, the competitive nature of the people inside both organisations, and the desire to just get parity right.
Triple Eight did all the design work on the shared mechanical package with Supercars and the unique parts of the Camaro – the bodywork, aero and engines – with General Motors. When it was clear at the start of 2023 that the Camaro had an advantage, plenty was said attacking and defending the packages, the process and the players.
Triple Eight, Jamie Whincup and Ford celebrate a maiden title in 2008.
“We’ve all had the same objective the whole time and that is to help Supercars find parity. There’s been a process in that, but we’re very proud of the fact that we’ve both played a straight bat, and we’ve worked with Supercars to get it right. I think we all agree now it’s as close as it’s ever been and it’s very, very good.”
The two elephants in the room are Toyota and the lack of direction from GM On the future of a suitable two-door car for Supercars racing, although GM reps have said all along that won’t be a problem.
Whincup says Toyota hastened its decision to make the switch.
Ford and Triple Eight will be chasing Bathurst success again.
“It certainly ramped it up, but it was already on the cards and was already on our agenda. Toyota is coming into the sport and we know they can be very, very aggressive, so we needed to make sure that we had a partner that was equally as committed as anybody else would be.
“We feel we’ve found the right partner who, who is going to go a long way to keeping us in front of the field.
“It wasn’t so much the lack of a Camaro road-car – I think racing whatever mum and dad drives the kids to school in, we’ll modify it and hot it up and race it. I think every brand will have a product for a long time to come.
“It was more the fact that Ford sold over a hundred thousand cars in Australia in 2024 and has the most popular model car in the Ranger. They’re a powerhouse; they’re loved; the brand is loved by Aussies.
“They’re all positives and that’s a big part of the reason why we chose to make the switch – or we will make the switch in ‘26.”
For more of AA’s chat with Jamie Whincup, grab your copy of Auto Action’s free online Digital issue on Tuesday morning.
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