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Walkinshaw Andretti United director Ryan Walkinshaw has revealed the team may not run the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in 2022.
The two-door hero car by General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) is set to join the Supercars Championship with the advent of the new Gen3 regulations.
Earlier this year GMSV was launched in Australia and New Zealand will bring the Corvette C8 and Silverado 1500 with the remanufacturing of the factory left-hand-drive platforms to be handled by the Walkinshaw Automotive Group.
While an established relationship exists between Walkinshaw and GMSV, and official renders from Supercars have shown a Camaro in Walkinshaw Andretti United livery, the team co-owner said running the Camaro wasn’t a given in 2022.
“We haven’t committed to anything for 2022,” Walkinshaw said.
“We still have some genuine interest from other manufacturers that we’re in discussions with.
“We’ll make a decision about what product we end up running in 2022 probably towards the beginning and middle of next year.
“It’s not a guarantee (running a Camaro), no, but it’s nice to have an option.”
Walkinshaw has long championed the Camaro and indicated a desire to introduce the platform but cosmetic obstacles have prohibited it thus far.
Gen3 will see the height of the chassis lowered 100mm and widened 100mm in an effort to attract more manufacturers to the championship.
Asked why he wouldn’t commit to running the Camaro given the existing relationship with GMSV, Walkinshaw said he was still fielding interest from other manufacturers.
“We may do, but at the same time we’ve got discussions going on with other manufacturers as well,” said Walkinshaw.
“We don’t need to commit to Camaro now. We can commit to Camaro halfway through next year or even later if we really wanted to.
“I don’t see the value in committing to that right now when we have other potential options that we can explore.
“It doesn’t mean we’re not going to run Camaro. I’m really excited and would be happy to run Camaro, but I’d like to see where these discussions go with other manufacturers as well.
“I think it’s important that teams, not just myself, but other teams in pit lane take advantage of the opportunity with Gen3 and go and start pitching to new manufacturers and try bring them to the category.
“The category will be strong with Camaro and Mustang, but it will only be stronger if there’s a Camaro, a Mustang, and one or two other brands as well.
“I’d like to try and be part of that if the opportunity exists.”
Walkinshaw also indicated the road-going Camaro might yet return down under.
Earlier this year the final ZL1 rolled out of the Walkinshaw workshop under the current remanufacturing agreement.
The future of the platform is not publicly known, but reports out of the United States have cast uncertainty over the car beyond the current generation.
“Camaro will be coming back as a road car if GMSV decided that’s what they want,” said Walkinshaw.
“We’re ready and prepared to support them in that from a remanufacturing perspective.
“It’ll come down to the business case and GMSV’s ambitions to reintroduce that product into the market or not. That’s a conversation you need to ask them.”
