Parity – or otherwise – between the Gen3 Supercars is the inescapable talking point in the championship and that is our topic for this week’s Pirtek Poll.
The just-completed Betr Darwin Triple Crown saw a continuation of the dominance by Chevrolet Camaro teams, prompting urgent calls from the Ford camp for change.
So, we ask you this week, does Supercars need to take action on parity?
Camaro drivers took eight of the nine possible podium finishes at Hidden Valley, with Dick Johnson Racing’s Will Davison the lone ranger in a Mustang when he got home third in Saturday’s Race 13 of the season.
However, it was Cameron Waters who was leading Race 13 when his Tickford Racing Mustang caught fire on Lap 4.
It was, pit stop cycles and the run from lights out to the first corner aside, the only time a race lead changed all weekend.
Furthermore, Waters had taken pole position earlier that day when he set the fastest two laps of the weekend, a 1:05.9986s in Part 2 of the knockout qualifying session and then a 1:05.9027s on his final lap.
How different could his weekend have been.
Tickford Team Principal did tell media, post-Race 15, “It’s hard to read too much into Cam today [Sunday], because he was still struggling with some brake issues and things like that in qualifying.
“This is a qualifying formula; the two guys that qualified in the front row finished first and second [in Race 15], so it’s as much about what where you qualify.”
He continued, though, “Being quick on one lap doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve got a good race car.
“There’s been plenty spoken about that as well. We appear to be overdriving our cars, potentially, because we have to drive at 105 percent to make up for other things.”
That squares with a theory that poor throttle response has been inducing Ford drivers to overcompensate and spin up their rear tyres when accelerating out of a corner.
It is also a comment consistent with claims about an aerodynamic imbalance, which arose during pre-season before the Temora ‘mini VCAT’ and have now resurfaced.
Grove Racing owner Stephen Grove was quoted in an official Ford Australia press release in the hours after the Darwin Triple Crown stating, “There is a serious parity issue with the aero of the cars that needs to be addressed.
“We just cannot get any life out of our rear tyres.”
Chevrolet-aligned individuals have previously pointed to the fact that only two teams from the Bowtie camp had been winning races, and hence were simply doing a better job.
At Hidden Valley, however, one of those two teams, Erebus Motorsport, missed the podium altogether while the other, Triple Eight Race Engineering, was but one of three Chevrolet outfits winning races.
Team 18 (through Mark Winterbottom) and Matt Stone Racing (through Jack Le Brocq) both achieved their first victories ever, Triple Eight had three other podiums, and Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner twice stood on the dais.
If one accepts the importance of qualifying, then it is worth noting that Saturday’s session was a clear win to Ford (Waters fastest by 0.1058s), Sunday’s first one was a clear win to Chevrolet (fastest Ford 0.2125s slower than pole), but Sunday’s latter hit-out saw the top Ford driver (Will Davison), albeit in fifth, miss pole by 0.0814s.
It is also worth pointing out that qualifying inconsistency was not limited to Ford drivers either, with Winterbottom going from 23rd in one Sunday morning session to third in the next, and Le Brocq from 15th to pole, for example.
Race results, certainly, do not make pretty reading for the Ford teams.
However, race results are a function of sporting performance – how the team sets up, how it is driven, and how a race is strategised – and technical features of the vehicles.
In other words, there is no proof of a disparity from session results alone.
Therefore, when we ask you if Supercars needs to take action on parity, we are not necessarily asking if Supercars needs to make changes to either or both cars.
‘Action’ could simply be the sharing of data (identified with respect to team/entry if necessary) and/or further parity testing, as Ford chief Mark Rushbrook, for example, has called for on multiple occasions.
That would answer some pertinent questions, and/or perhaps raise others which would warrant further investigation.
Does Supercars need to take action on parity? Cast your vote below in this week’s Pirtek Poll.
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