GM “ain’t done yet” in Supercars

General Motors issued a simple statement today in the wake of the Triple Eight defection, outlining its plan for the future.

“We ain’t done yet,” said GM’s Chris Payne at the start of a media briefing in Sydney today.

Payne, along with local GM boss Jess Bala and the head of GM’s communications in Australia, Karla Leach, laid out GM’s future plans for Supercars, announcing that it had extended its arrangements with Supercars and would be running until at least 2027.

Chris Payne and Jess Bala with the Chevrolet Racing team at the 2024 Supercars Gala Awards.

While not admitting to being blindsided by Triple Eight’s defection, Bala did admit they were surprised at the move, given that it was in discussions with its Homologation Team (HT) for the future.

Payne said that they are currently planning for the season with Triple Eight as its HT but that it is “entirely feasible that we would appoint the replacement Homologation Team in 2025.”

Without putting a timeline on a replacement for its HT, Payne did say GM was pulling its teams closer together and would rely more heavily on GM’s tech centre in the US, which has a staff headcount of more than 180.

chevrolet and Triple Eight have long fronted the Supercars pits. Image: Peter Norton

GM doesn’t support the idea of KRE Race Engines doing both engines, which is possibly the stumbling block Mark Rushbrook hinted at in our exclusive sit-down with him in Daytona last weekend (see page 4 of Auto Action Digital). No doubt there is more to play out there.

For the GM crew in Australia, it has been a busy three weeks locking down its commitment to Supercars and the Camaro.

Although the Camaro is out of production globally, Bala said she expects the current car to continue in Supercars through to the end of ’27 unless an alternate directive arrives from the United States.

“As far as we know right now, we’re expecting to see the Camaro body racing for the next couple of years,” she said.

“Unfortunately, we’re not privy to what Michigan and Detroit and what HQ is talking about as to what’s next.

“We know they are having those discussions overall but don’t have any detail we can share just yet.”

Either way, GM will be on the grid for the foreseeable future.

“I would argue that a significant number of the fan base who attend here and watch the broadcast are still very still very much GM loyalists, regardless of what kind of car they drive to the car park,” Payne said.

“We are embedded in this sport as much as anybody, and we’re not going anywhere.”

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