Wirth, who was engaged by Triple Eight to design the aero on the ZB ahead of the 2018 season, has publicly claimed that he gamed the Supercars parity rules in the process.

The unsubstantiated claim is that his Wirth Research company exploited a control brake duct, used only during VCAT aero testing, to stall the aerodynamics of the car.

That, he says, ensured it made significantly more downforce once the race-spec ducts were fitted to the car after homologation was complete.

In his claim, Wirth makes it clear that he and his team were working alone and that Triple Eight had no idea that it had happened.

Wirth’s claim has drawn a blunt response from Whincup, who was a driver at Triple Eight during the introduction of the ZB and is now the team’s managing director.

Whincup says that if Wirth’s claim is true he should be banned from working in Supercars at any point in the future.

Whincup also took aim at Speedcafe for publishing the claim without seeking comment from Triple Eight on the matter.

Speedcafe stands firmly by its decision not to approach Triple Eight for comment on the initial report based on Wirth’s clear admission that the team had no involvement in the matter.

“We’re super excited to be back in the workshop this week and full stream ahead in building our brand new Mustang race cars and engines,” read a statement from Whincup.

“While we’re completely engulfed in innovation and striving forward, we also need to make sure our integrity is respected and any comments in the media are justified.

“This week we’ve had a supplier Triple Eight [has] used in the past make comment about work they performed many years and a local media outlet recklessly running a story on it without giving us an opportunity to comment or provide supporting evidence.

“We find these comments disturbing and are bitterly disappointed that if interpreted incorrectly it may raise questions on our integrity – something that is so important to us.

“Triple Eight [has] always respected Supercars testing processes and gone over and above in working with the governing body to achieve technical parity.

“We would never be associated with any person or company that contradicts this and if what Nick Wirth is saying on a podcast is correct he should never be welcomed to work in the Supercars pit lane again.

“It’s important to address this situation so bluntly, especially out of the respect to the hard working staff at Triple Eight and our fans.

“Our focus is on going racing and delivery you guys life long memories this season and beyond.”

VCAT was a real-world, runway based testing system that was long used by Supercars as a cost-effective way to measure downforce levels for parity.

For as long as it existed there were rumours and speculation of teams and manufacturers looking for imperfections in the system that could be exploited.

It was replaced by more expensive, but fundamentally more controllable, offshore wind tunnel testing at the end of the 2023 season.