Triple Eight wildcard nearing final laps?
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: 8 August 2025
Zach Bates may have enjoyed a flying start to life in the Supercheap Auto Wildcard, but he may be the last to race it.
Bates is the latest youngster to share the #888 Camaro with veteran Craig Lowndes and is getting a solo round at this weekend’s Ipswich Super440 before they join forces in the enduros.
He is the fourth young driver to receive the special opportunity to race the Triple Eight wildcard following in the footsteps of Broc Feeney, Declan Fraser, Zane Goddard and Cooper Murray.
But with Triple Eight switching to Ford in 2026 and Craig Lowndes parting ways to stick with Chevrolet, the future of the wildcard is unclear.
Speaking at the Ipswich Super440, Triple Eight Race Engineering Managing Director Jamie Whincup could not confirm if the Supercheap Auto car would be back as a Mustang next year.
However, Whincup said it is more likely the program will not return in 2026.
“We are very proud of the wildcard program, but not sure how long it will continue,” he said.
“It has been great over the last three or four years, so fingers crossed this year is the same.
“Unconfirmed at this stage. We do not have a commitment to running a wildcard in 2026.
“But my guess is we wont, but it is still to be confirmed.”
In his first day as a Supercars driver, Bates impressed.
The 2024 Super2 champion did not leave the top 10 and shot as high as second, finishing the two practice sessions fifth and seventh.
Whincup has been impressed with how the latest youngster has performed in the #888.
“I am a fan of Zach and he does a good job,” he said.
“Watching the onboard you can see he is hustling pretty hard and has those motorsport genes within him.
“Excited to give him a crack. He did very well in practice 1 even though obviously there is a tyre advantage, but is driving well.”
Despite being on the pace, Bates revealed he struggled more than he thought on his opening day.
“Today was good but it was a bit more difficult than I thought it would be,” Bates said.
“Nothing was going to get me fully ready for this first session I’d say.
“We went out there then made certain improvements throughout the session, which is what we aim to do, then at the end we put a fresh green set on and got a good run in, ended up in seventh which is a decent result. Good start.
“We’ve got a bit of time to find out there on the lap.
“Looking ahead to tomorrow, qualifying’s going to be hard.
“This new sprint format makes it really hard for us young guys coming in to get it all right, right away as we’re still learning our craft. Just got to try our best as a team to do a great job.
“Team have given me a great car so I just need to work on pulling together everything with my driving to get it done.
“Overall it’s so awesome to be out there, my first drive, it’s surreal to be out there.”
Image: DMAC Photography
2025 Ipswich Super440 (All Times AEST)
Friday 8 August
Practice 1 – 1: Broc Feeney 1:09.2078 2: Anton De Pasquale +0.1965 3: Cameron Hill +0.2271
Practice 2 – 1: Will Brown 1:08.4927 2: Broc Feeney +0.1419 3: Ryan Wood +0.2088
Saturday 9 August
9:30am, Qualifying Part 1 – Race 23 (10 mins)
9:50am, Qualifying Part 2 – Race 23 (10 mins)
10:20am, Qualifying Part 1 – Race 24 (10 mins)
10:40am, Qualifying Part 2 – Race 24 (10 mins)
12:45pm, Race 23 – 39 laps (120 km)
4:10pm, Race 24 – 39 laps (120 km)
Sunday 10 August
10:20am, Qualifying Part 1 – Race 25 (10 mins)
10:40am, Qualifying Part 2 – Race 25 (10 mins)
11:40am, Qualifying Part 3 – Race 25 Top Ten Shootout (30 mins)
3:15pm, Race 25 – 63 laps (200 km)
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