Team 18 was confirmed in the role during the recent Taupo Super440, with plans for a handover to take place by July as Triple Eight gears up to become a Ford team in 2026.

GM is altering its approach amid the change, establishing its own racing department headed by current Triple Eight tech chief Jeromy Moore and involving all Chevrolet teams in the process.

Team 18 was chosen to be the conduit between GM and Supercars largely due to its existing staff, headed by ex-Supercars head of motorsport Adrian Burgess.

Its six-strong engineering team also boasts Richard Hollway, previously involved in Holden and Volvo homologations, and another ex-Supercars tech, Som Sharma.

“We’ll be putting a couple more people on,” Schwerkolt declared, noting that bolstering the strength of the Camaro’s rear bumper is among the items already on the job sheet.

“[There’s a] little bit of design work and all that sort of stuff, on making our cars better… we need to strengthen a few things, so yeah, there’ll be a CAD designer type of thing and engineering.

“But the big thing we’ve got in our back pocket is obviously Jeromy. That’s a massive, massive asset to us that we can lean on for performance and also where we’re going.

“The big thing is obviously keeping Toyota and Ford in check overseas when they go through tunnels and AVL [dyno testing for engine parity], etcetera.”

Schwerkolt repeatedly emphasised the importance of Moore during the Taupo announcement, stating he’ll be present at of end-of-season wind tunnel testing even if a Camaro does not run.

The forklift magnate also noted current Team 18 drivers Anton De Pasquale and David Reynolds are itching to work with Moore, adding: “They want to call him now, but they can’t, obviously.”

GM plans early Triple Eight, Team 18 handover

That was a reference to Moore’s contractual situation with Triple Eight, with the team adamant it can hold the engineering whiz to a six-month notice period and a six-month non-compete.

Eric Warren, Executive Director of GM Motorsport Competition, indicated that conversations on the matter remain ongoing.

“We have broader plans with Jeromy, being in a larger role in GM motorsports long term that we had discussed for a while,” he said.

“We respect Triple Eight, we’re racing with them, and look forward to a successful year and we wouldn’t want it to end in any kind of negative way.

“So we are having dialogue, and Jeromy’s having dialogue, but that’s honestly a question and a contractual relationship with Jeromy and Triple Eight.”