THE outgoing team principal of Bathurst 1000 winners Grove Racing has expressed confidence that barometric pressure effects on engines will be appropriately handled come next year’s Great Race.
Mount Panorama parity has been an ongoing concern in the Gen3 era, with the Mustang struggling to keep pace with the Camaro up and down the circuit’s long straights – something which is particularly felt to be crippling in race conditions.
The debate this year centred around barometric pressure, with last-minute testing showing that Ford’s Coyote motor was more adversely affected by altitude in high-rev ranges.
Things got ugly behind the scenes amid the need for negotiations, per formalised processes, and ultimately the change recommended by engine specialist Craig Hasted was not implemented, leading to a Dick Johnson Racing protest followed by a scathing statement.
As it turned out, rain came to the Blue Oval’s rescue on race day, with Matt Payne and Garth Tander prevailing in an all-time thriller.
Either way, there’s plenty of time now to get things sorted before the 2026 Repco Bathurst 1000 across October 8-11, including the opportunity to write into rules any need for one-off tweaks at the Mountain to avoid a repeat of last month’s saga.
“The championship is going through lots of change,” David Cauchi said recently.
“We’ve got a new manufacturer coming in, we’ve got a change of homologation team on the Ford side, so I really hope that we can sort it all out and I’m sure we can, because we absolutely don’t want all that stuff going on before the biggest race of the year.
Pic: Mark Walker
“It’s disappointing three years in that we were still talking about it, for sure.
“It’s something that I know James Warburton is very aware of and is working to sort out with the rest of the technical team at Supercars so that we can just get to Bathurst and let Bathurst be what it is, which is one of the greatest motor races in the world.”
Cauchi’s own future beyond this season is unclear, besides his desire to move back to Queensland.