The team this morning confirmed its impending re-entry to Supercars’ second tier after a two-year hiatus with youngsters Jackson Walls and Ben Gomersall.
Both are the sons of highly successful businessman and hobby racers.
Ben Gomersall is the son of iSeek founder Jason, whose racing exploits have included stints in Touring Car Masters and Super3.
The two Triple Eight-built ZB Commodores expected to be run by the team in 2025 are owned by Gomersall, including the car currently campaigned in the series by Gomersall Motorsport.
Teenager Ben’s own racing experience has mainly come in the Toyota GR Cup and Scholarship Series. He’s currently eighth in the GR Cup standings and faces a big step up to Super2.
Walls, 21, is therefore expected to be Triple Eight’s second tier spearhead.
He finished runner-up in Carrera Cup Australia last season and currently sits third in the 2024 standings heading into this weekend’s penultimate round on the Gold Coast.
Walls progressed to Porsches in 2021 having earlier tackled open-wheel classes Australian Formula 4, F3 Asia and NZ’s Toyota Racing Series, and is now eager to get started in Super2.
“To be completely honest, I don’t really think there’s a better way to start a Supercars campaign in Super2, especially with the best team in the country at the moment and one of the best, if not the best teams, in the last 15 years or so,” said Walls of his Triple Eight deal.
“It’s pretty exciting for me, my family, and my supporters. We want to get things rolling right from the get-go.
“I’m super excited. Like always, you want to do the best job possible, but for me, it’s just maximizing myself in learning how to drive the Supercar.
“But at the end of the day, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to go win races and win championships. I want to strive for the top and give the championship a good crack.”
Walls’ father Tony has raced a variety of Porsche, McLaren and Lamborghini equipment over the years, sporting the colours of his Objective software group.
The tech entrepreneur is a member of the 2024 AFR 200 rich list.
Father and son raced together in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia last year as part of Jackson’s busy program.
“I wouldn’t be here without my dad; he has been working tirelessly for the last 15 years or so. He’s been my number one backer since the start,” said Walls.
Jackson has already cut laps in Supercars machinery, including Triple Eight’s Gen3 Camaro wildcard.
“After completing the limited days I’ve done in a Supercar and then the evaluation day with Triple Eight and the Supercheap Auto wildcard Camaro, you don’t realise until you’re part of the outfit, what kind of level they run at,” he said.
“It was super cool, and I learned a lot, particularly with Wes McDougall (Supercheap Auto Racing, race engineer) and everyone who was part of the wildcard crew for the evaluation day. So, for me, I was just taking everything in and trying to be as fast as possible.”
Gomersall has also sampled Supercars machinery, including the Gomersall Motorsport ZB Commodore campaigned by Reuben Goodall this year in Super2.
“I have done a couple of test days in some of my some of my dad’s Supercars,” Ben explained.
“Earlier this year in July, I did a few laps in Reuben Goodall’s Holden ZB Commodore. I did about 40 or so laps at Queensland Raceway, but other than that, haven’t done much driving of them.”
Gomersall’s focus has been on learning his craft in the Toyotas, as well as an outing alongside father Jason and Aaron Seton aboard a Ford Mustang in the Bathurst 6 Hour.
“This year so far has been pretty solid overall,” he said of his Toyota campaign.
“We’ve had a really good pace at all of the rounds this year. We’ve been top five in the championship for the whole year as well as results-wise on track.
“It is going to be a big learning curve next year, so if I can try to take in as much information as I can and learn from all the experienced guys there, it’s going to help me out.
“If we’re consistently improving each round from the first round in Sydney to the last round in Adelaide, getting some top-10 and top-five finishes along the way, I’d be really happy with that.”
Gomersall added of his father’s support: “My dad’s always been a big help in my career. He’s always been there for me, and I couldn’t do it without him.”
“I’d like to thank all my sponsors as well, particularly Hugh Zochling. He’s been pretty important this year since jumping on board.”
Discussion about this post