KRE Race Engines found itself inadvertently at the centre of a tug-o-war in the immediate wake of news that Triple Eight will move to Ford next year.
Both Triple Eight and Ford made it clear that the plan was for KRE to take over the Ford engine supply from the Dick Johnson Racing-run Motorsport Powertrains.
As revealed by Speedcafe last month that quickly hit a snag with opposition from GM, Supercars and incoming Toyota homologation team Walkinshaw Andretti United over the prospect of KRE running two different programs for two manufacturers.
The issue was a hot topic in the paddock at the Sydney 500 and despite GM’s public opposition, and KRE’s commitment to GM if it was forced to choose, there was a sense from chief Ford figures that cooler heads would ultimately prevail.
Instead the matter has come to an abrupt end with GM inking an exclusive deal with KRE.
That has left Ford and Triple Eight with a decision to make regarding the future of its engine supply in Supercars.
There appears to be three main options when it comes to providing and servicing the race-ready Coyote motors.
One, and perhaps the most obvious, is that Triple Eight takes over the Motorsport Powertrains facility from DJR as part of the handover of homologation duties.
That would open the door for DJR to recoup a portion of the money tipped into taking over the engine shop/program from Rob Herrod in late 2023.
A second option is for T8 to lean on its engineering and manufacturing power and start its own in-house engine program from scratch.
A third potential outcome is that there is effectively no change and Motorsport Powertrains continues to service the fleet of Ford V8s under the control of DJR.
Speedcafe understands that no firm decision has been made, while it is also expected that the preferred outcome will then require a vote from all teams that will run Fords next season.
Final sign-off will then need to come from Supercars.
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