That’s the message from GMSV boss Jess Bala, who wants to see the Red Bull Ampol Racing squad score a final title for The General before crossing the divide for 2026.
Triple Eight has brazenly promoted its Blue Oval deal since a bombshell January announcement at Ford HQ that included a borrowed Gen3 Mustang dressed in the team’s current race livery.
The public nature of the team’s early Ford efforts is only going to ramp up in coming months, with plans to test its maiden Mustang with star drivers Broc Feeney and Will Brown aboard.
Extraordinarily, Triple Eight manager Mark Dutton is on record saying the team hopes its early testing will provide an immediate benefit to current Ford teams during the 2025 title battle.
It’s a stark contrast to the softly-softly handling of Walkinshaw Andretti United’s impending switch from Ford to Toyota.
A pledge of politeness from Toyota to Ford has included plans for Warren Luff to undertake early testing of the Supra, rather than star drivers Chaz Mostert and Ryan Wood.
Asked for GM’s view on Triple Eight’s approach, Bala said GM is understanding – provided a key promise from MD Jamie Whincup and commercial director Tom Wilson is kept.
“Jamie and Tom and the whole team said to us when we found out about the change that they are committed to throwing everything at winning the championship for us this year,” Bala said.
“They’re doing very well, Broc’s having an amazing season and we’re on track for that.
“We understand they’re making a very substantial shift next year, so there’s some things, like us, some foundations they need to lay down, do shakedowns, things like that.
“As long as their focus remains on winning us another championship, then we understand what they need to do to prepare for next year is what’s going to happen.
“But we do expect they stay focused on getting results for us on track for the remainder of this year.”
Triple Eight is so far keeping its end of the bargain with a huge lead in the teams’ championship while Feeney and Brown sit first and second in the drivers’.
The advent of the Finals Series, however, means the team will need to perform right to the very end of its GM era in order for either of its stars to take the drivers’ crown.
A recent peace deal between Ford and its current homologation team Dick Johnson Racing has meanwhile cleared the path for Triple Eight to take over the Blue Oval’s Supercars program.
Bala, however, said there’s no firm date on when the GM HT duties will officially switch from Triple Eight to Team 18.
The transfer of GM HT information remains a work in progress, with Team 18 boss Adrian Burgess and GM’s Supercars program manager Simon McNamara heavily involved.
“Jamie and the team have been very helpful in working with ATB (Burgess) and Simon on exactly what we need, what info we’d like and how to get access to that,” she said.
“They’ve been very co-operative with us, which has been great. We haven’t put a drop-dead date on it because obviously for both sides we want to have access to everything that we need.”
Bala said the HT handover date discussions are separate to that involving the transition of tech whiz Jeromy Moore from Triple Eight to GM.
Moore finished up with Triple Eight on Friday and is expected to start at GM before the end of the month.
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