Gen3 Camaro engine allocations begin

Chevrolet Supercars teams now know the identity of their first Gen3 engines, following a draw earlier this afternoon.

Speedcafe.com understands that the lottery took place in the last hour or thereabouts, for the initial seven engines which will be dispatched to the teams campaigning cars with a Bowtie badge.

As was the case for the Ford squads, the initial tranche represents one engine for every two Camaros in the field.

With the move to a common engine supplier for the respective Gen3 models, Supercars has taken the step of randomising the allocation to ward off any suggestions of favouritism.

Herrod Performance Engines is already the supplier for Ford homologation team Dick Johnson Racing and has produced the powerplants for all 11 Mustangs in the field.

The same applies with respect to KRE Race Engines, Triple Eight Race Engineering, and the 14 Chevrolets on the grid.

However, the lottery means there is no scope for Herrod or KRE to favour DJR or Triple Eight respectively given they cannot predict which particular engines will go to any given team.

Ultimately, every team will receive two engines per entry (car), meaning a total across the field of 22 for the Mustangs and 28 for the Camaros.

Engines are dynamometer tested by Craig Hasted, Supercars’ engine expert, at his Cragsted facility in South East Queensland to ensure parity before the draw takes place.

The Ford engine is a 5.4-litre Coyote-derived unit with double overhead cams, while the Camaro’s 5.7-litre powerplant continues to be of pushrod configuration, as were the 5.0-litre engines which sat in the Falcons (later the Gen2 Mustang) and Commodores.

Meanwhile, what has been shaping as the final, crucial day of testing for the prototype Gen3 cars has been taking place at Queensland Raceway today.