Whincup claimed in a podcast clip released by Apex Hunters United this morning that the Walkinshaw team TIG welded its two new-for-2026 chassis, rather than the required MIG.
The seven-time champion alleged Supercars subsequently gave permission for the Walkinshaw team to MIG over the TIG welds.
“Walkinshaw have built two chassis at the start of the year and the rules clearly state you cannot TIG weld the chassis,” said Whincup.
“So Walkinshaw have TIG welded both their chassis up. Supercars go ‘gee okay, what are we going to do here? If you just MIG over the top, it’s going to be okay.
“I said ‘hey guys, that’s not on. They need to throw them in the bin and start again.”
Whincup added the Walkinshaw cars are “not legit” and that the situation is “out of control”.
“If you’re a Kai Allen fan or a Rylan Gray fan or a Broc Feeney fan and you get beaten by a Walkinshaw car this weekend, you’ve got every right to be pissed off because they’re not running the same chassis as what we are,” he said.
“It needs to be addressed. It can’t continue like that.
“They can’t be running these, what I regard as an illegal car. They’re legal because Supercars say they are, but I don’t accept that. We need to get that changed as soon as we can.”
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Walkinshaw TWG co-owner Ryan Walkinshaw directly responded to the clip via social media, claiming the issue stemmed from 2022/23.
It’s widely known that Walkinshaw TIG welded its first two Gen3 Mustang chassis and were subsequently told to MIG over key roll-over protection nodes.
“That was over three years ago at the start of Gen3,” wrote Walkinshaw.
“Supercars told us we could weld the cars in that way then changed their minds after the chassis were built a few months later (we were one of the first teams to build chassis).
“It wasn’t an advantage as he claims, it was a disadvantage as we had to re-weld them adding more weight. Those chassis have been retired years ago.
“So Jamie, as usual, is chatting nonsense.”
Supercars motorsport boss Tim Edwards confirmed to Speedcafe the category sent out a further welding rule clarification during the recent off-season.
That, he said, was to clarify the permitted weld specification for specific tubes at the back of the chassis and was not prompted by any issue with the new Walkinshaw Toyotas.
“There’s zero issues as far as we’re concerned,” Edwards told Speedcafe.
“We sent the clarification out and that was not as a result of having to tell any teams to MIG over TIG.
“The chassis that are being highlighted were the two cars from 2023 that Walkinshaw raced, which obviously Supercars gave them a direction to weld over the TIG welds.
“Both of those cars are no longer race cars.”
The TIG/MIG welding drama hit the headlines at the start of the 2025 season when Supercars ordered changes to Dick Johnson Racing’s new Erebus Motorsport-supplied chassis.
Supercars at that point moved to clarify that the main roll-over protection bars had to be MIG welded after the original rule was deemed to have expired.
The category subsequently began twist-testing chassis to rule out any performance difference between chassis constructed by the five accredited builders.
Supercars team fabricators have long had differing preferences between TIG and MIG, with the former considered finer, more intricate and resulting in a marginally lighter, neater weld.
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