Triple Eight Race Engineering has reiterated its position that its cooling system was approved after the appeal against its Thrifty Newcastle 500 disqualification was dismissed.

The team appealed after being stripped of a one-two result in Race 1 of the Repco Supercars Championship over the illegal mounting of a system which it used to provide cool air to the helmets of Shane van Gisbergen, who was first to the chequered flag, and Broc Feeney.

It claimed, amid a rushed rollout of the Gen3 race cars and its especially high workload as one of the homologation teams, that it had been given verbal approval by Supercars Head of Motorsport Adrian Burgess to install the system on the driver’s side of its Red Bull Ampol Camaros in Newcastle.

While verbal approvals are understood to be commonplace at present, Burgess denied such an allowance was given in this specific case.

As such, Triple Eight was found to have contravened Rule C6.2.1.1 of the Supercars Operations Manual, which prescribes that the cooling system must be “mounted within the cockpit utilising the mounting points designated in the GSD for the passenger seat”.

Following the announcement that the Supercars National Court of Appeal had dismissed its appeal, it issued a statement advising that it respects the outcome, but reiterating its previously stated position on the verbal approval, highlighting also the claim that there was no performance advantage achieved.

“Triple Eight are disappointed in the decision to uphold the team’s disqualification from Race 1 of the Newcastle 500 for a technical breach,” began the statement

“The team maintains our position that we were given an instruction allowing us to install the cooling boxes in a place that conferred no performance advantage at all, but respects the outcome delivered by the Supercars National Court of Appeal.

“Our sole focus now shifts to the upcoming Melbourne 400, and the remainder of the 2023 Supercars Championship season.”