The fastest Chevrolet Camaro team on the grid at last weekend’s Bathurst 1000 supported technical changes to the Ford Mustang to deliver closer racing – but other Chevrolet teams blocked the bid.
The team behind the fastest Chevrolet Camaro during last weekend’s Bathurst 1000 – which qualified on pole position, won the Top 10 shootout to start from the front of the grid, and finished second behind another Chevrolet Camaro – supported changes that would have helped bring the fleet of Ford Mustangs up to speed and deliver closer racing.
But the plans were quashed before the cars even hit the track for the first mid-week practice session, after the majority of Chevrolet teams blocked the bid.
The Chevrolet Camaro has now won 22 of the 24 races so far this V8 Supercar season – including a one-two finish in last weekend’s Bathurst 1000.
Indeed, the Chevrolet Camaro had so much pace last weekend the top two cars were able to cruise to victory with the biggest winning margin in decades.
Despite the front-running Chevrolet Camaros nursing mechanical malfunctions, they were able to stay comfortably ahead of a fleet of Ford Mustangs being driven flat-out.
Barry Ryan, the CEO of Erebus Motorsport – a Chevrolet Camaro team owned by billionaire Betty Klimenko and which finished second last weekend after qualifying fastest and leading much of the race – told motorsport website V8 Sleuth in a bombshell revelation:
“All the (Chevrolet teams) had got together, ‘we’ve got to say no, because we’ve got no facts’.
“But then once I sat down with a couple of Ford teams and saw the facts, I was like ‘why aren’t we just giving it to them’?
“It was not like they were asking for a stupid amount of (aerodynamic) downforce.”
Ford had requested changes that would have brought the Mustang closer into line with the grip delivered by the aerodynamic package developed for the Chevrolet Camaro.
All season, the Ford Mustangs have been able to lay down a single fast lap – but their speed quickly fades over several laps as the rear tyres wear out faster than they do on the Chevrolet Camaro due to the disparity in aerodynamic downforce.
While the Chevrolet Camaro teams have developed an excellent race-winning package, the V8 Supercars category is what is known as a “parity” form of motorsport, where technical changes can be made throughout the season if one type of vehicle has a demonstrable advantage over the other.
“(Ford) wanted to remove a bit of downforce from the front and put it to the rear and take like one kilo of drag off, it was ridiculous that we were even fighting over it,” Mr Ryan told V8 Sleuth.
“So my point was, the (Chevrolet Camaro) teams should have allowed it for the good of the sport.
“It would have been a really good story for the sport to see that the teams are actually working together to make the sport better.
“That’s the way I looked at it. But I get why some of the (Chevrolet Camaro) teams didn’t agree, because (the latest technical request from Ford ) was all so late.”
Mr Ryan said he consulted one of his team’s top race engineers and they both agreed to support the upgrades to the Ford Mustang for the good of the sport.
However, rival teams running the 10 other Chevrolet Camaros did not agree.
“We both said, ‘let (Ford) do it, why wouldn’t you?’. It could have made their cars worse,” Mr Ryan told V8 Sleuth.
Ford needed the approval of the six teams running all 12 Chevrolet Camaros to make the upgrades to the Mustang on the eve of the Bathurst 1000 but it was ruled out before the first practice session, triggering an angry response from Ford which, insiders say, is preparing to exit the category after 2024.
V8 Sleuth reported changes to the Ford Mustang may finally be allowed by category organisers ahead of the next round of the V8 Supercars championship on the Gold Coast.
However, it may be too late. Well placed motorsport sources told Drive: “What are (the Chevrolet teams) going to do when they’re racing themselves in 2025? What happens to V8 Supercars then?”
The post Fastest Chevrolet Camaro team supported Ford Mustang parity change on eve of Bathurst 1000 – report appeared first on Drive.
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