Triple Eight Race Engineering boss Jamie Whincup has said he is happy with the Gen3 Supercars paritisation process, following explosive comments from Ford’s Mark Rushbrook.
Rushbrook, Global Director of Motorsports at Ford Performance, confirmed that “we are not satisfied that parity has been reached either for engine or aero,” less than five weeks out from the start of the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship season.
Both engines and aerodynamics have been known points of conjecture for multiple months now, with testing still taking place early last week and the week prior to that at Queensland Raceway.
Whincup, Team Principal at Triple Eight, which is Chevrolet’s homologation team, declined to comment directly on Rushbrook’s statements, but said he is happy with Supercars’ process.
He confirmed that VSDs (Vehicle Specification Documents; ie aerodynamics) have not been finalised but is also satisfied with the aerodynamics of the Camaro.
“It hasn’t been finalised yet,” Whincup told Speedcafe.com just prior to Practice 6 at the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, where he is driving one of Triple Eight’s Mercedes-AMGs.
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“We did the aero testing, we did VCAT in November last year, and then Supercars have decided to conduct a little bit more unofficial testing at the track over the last few weeks.
“But, we’ve been happy with the process Supercars have taken. They’ve followed the same procedure they have in the past, and we can see that it’s all on track.
“We were ready to sign off on our car after VCAT last November, and we’re still waiting for it to be to be finalised by Supercars.”
The ‘unofficial testing’ to which the seven-time Supercars champion referred is understood to have been validation of VCAT.
The Ford camp, which is backed by massive resources from head office in the United States, was thought to be pushing for more VCAT testing but Supercars has not given any commitment to that.
Asked why the unofficial testing was needed, Whincup said, “I reckon that’s best ask to them [Supercars] why they haven’t homologated the cars and let the teams move on to building them; that’s certainly a question for them.
“But we’re ready to go, we’re keen to sign off, and waiting for their direction to finalise them.”
He had a similar position on the question of whether engines are equal or not.
“That’s a Supercar question as well,” he responded.
“Both homologation teams get all the data and most of that data is shared throughout the whole pit lane.
“So, it’s not just us collating the data; most of it the pit lane have seen the data.
“As I said, we’re ready for sign-off; we want to move forward and start building cars as quick as we can.”
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