Supercars’ new Gen3 cars have been officially given the green light to go racing on the eve of the opening round after last-gasp wrangling over parity.
Less than two days before the cars hit the track for the season-opening race on the streets of Newcastle, Supercars confirmed the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang had been “formally homologated”.
The series faced a late scramble to restore parity ahead of the Gen3 rollout due to ongoing Ford concerns over the performance gap, which were exacerbated when Chevrolet teams dominated the time sheet at the official pre-season test in Sydney two weeks ago.
In a bid to rectify the issue, Supercars had to schedule another Vehicle Control Aerodynamic Test (VCAT) at the rural Temora NSW airstrip last week.
The testing revealed the Camaro produced less front-end downforce when compared to the Mustang and the GM car required some tweaks to its aero package.
In a statement on Wednesday night, Supercars said the homologation teams representing General Motors and Ford had now agreed the cars were now officially homologated and had been “signed off for racing”.
Supercars chief executive Shane Howard said ensuring technical parity was met was critical to the success of the series and the biggest shake-up in the sport’s history.
“As part of upholding the integrity of the championship, all parties will continue to work together to review data and the relative performance of our new vehicles,” Howard said.
“This is a prerequisite for the ongoing success of the category, which falls under the parity review system which has been in place for more than 20 years.
“The homologation teams, manufacturer representatives and Supercars worked in partnership to achieve this goal, resulting in over 2200km of running, undertaken across both brands during the VCAT validation testing last week.
“The Temora testing provided all parties with a high level of confidence, and we look forward to the … Newcastle 500 this weekend with a completely reset and re-energised championship.”
The parity debate was heightened when Ford‘s global performance boss Mark Rushbrook weighed in last month, saying the manufacturer was not satisfied parity had been reached for “engine or aero” between the Gen3 Mustang and Camaro.
But, following the most recent testing, Ford Mustang Gen3 chief designer Perry Kapper said the Blue Oval now had confidence it was “ready to fight” at Newcastle.
“Our thanks go to Supercars and everyone involved for their commitment and effort in the Gen3 development process,” Kapper said.
“We will continue to work with Supercars throughout the year for any additional updates.
“The aerodynamic testing last week, and the adjustments made, give us confidence that we can go to the first event in Newcastle with our Ford Mustangs ready to fight, to see the cars grid up and hear the revs rise, before the lights go out in this new chapter in Supercars history.”
It comes after a season when New Zealand ace Shane van Gisbergen dominated to win his second straight championship in the farewell year for Holden for Triple Eight.
Triple Eight (the homologation team for General Motors) technical director Jeromy Moore was confident the new Camaro and Mustang were on an even-footing.
“During the entire VCAT validation at Temora, the two homologations teams and Supercars staff worked very well together, in an open and collaborative manner, to achieve the common goal,” Moore said.
“With over 70 runs and throughout the four days we have confidence we have come away with cars equal in measured downforce and drag.”
The Newcastle 500 gets underway on Friday.
Originally published as Supercars news: Gen3 cars given green light on eve of Newcastle 500
