The introduction of Gen3 to Super2 is a hot topic. Image: InSyde Media
Supercars is currently assessing the introduction of its latest-spec car to the second tier as a replacement for the Gen2 hardware.
A meeting was held with all current Super2 teams on at Queensland Raceway where two options were debated – 2027 or 2028.
Speedcafe understands that Triple Eight and Brad Jones Racing were the only two teams were in clear favour of a 2027 introduction.
They are two of the teams that straddle both Supercars and Super2, with main game squads thought to be generally keen on an earlier introduction as it will create a second-hand Gen3 market.
In both Triple Eight and BJR’s cases there is the added incentive that they will change brands in 2026 and may be left with unnecessary Gen3 stock.
Dedicated Super2 teams, meanwhile, are hesitant to undergo what is being billed as the biggest ever change in Super2 history – particularly as the Gen2 cars were only introduced two-and-a-half seasons ago.
That has left little time to recoup the investment in the Gen2 hardware, an issue heightened by uncertainty over where the Gen2 cars will race once no longer eligible for Super2.
While a revival of Super3 is an option, a joint field of Gen3 Super2 and Gen2 Super3 is complicated by the fact that Gen2 cars are ostensibly faster.
Image Racing boss and long-time Super2 competitor Terry Wyhoon is one of the supporters of waiting until 2028, highlighting that a change to Gen3 involves buying new hardware such as wheels and wheel nuts.
“This is Super2’s biggest ever change, for a start,” Wyhoon told Speedcafe.
“It’s not just buy a car and then use the wheels and the wheel guns and the nuts and everything we’ve had for however many years. We need to change everything.
“And if we go to Gen3 in 2027 it’s only four years of this current car, which we paid a fair a bit of money for. So from a business point of view, it makes sense that we go another year.
“Also, Supercars has admitted that there’s still a lot of challenges with Gen3 that they could iron out, and that would probably give them extra time. We then end up with a better product if we hold it off for another year.
“The amount of team owners that were pushing for 2028, it just makes sense that that’s where it ends up.”
As well as Triple Eight and BJR, other main game teams with a direct involvement in Super2 are Tickford Racing and Walkinshaw Andretti United.
The latter is set to pull out of the second-tier next year, while Tickford is going against its main game contemporaries and leaning towards a 2028 introduction.
“I think for our team we would say 2028,” said Tickford CEO Simon Brookhouse.
“We’re not absolutely wedded to that decision; I think the most important thing is that the whole category, and Supercars itself, have a plan for that category. A long-term plan.
“But for us, our view would be ’28 at the moment. Let’s get the Gen3 cars absolutely humming along in the main game category and then see what happens in the future.”
Triple Eight managing director Jamie Whincup, meanwhile, holds a firm view that 2027 is the right year, given the Gen3 era is in its third year, and also given Triple Eight leases its Gen2 hardware rather than owns it.
“I was just talking to Simon before and I said, ‘I think we’re going to be in disagreement with this one, but that’s okay’,” said Whincup.
“Tickford owns a few [Gen2] cars, we don’t own any of the cars. They’ll be pushing for ’28, we’re certainly pushing for 2027.
“Super2 is a category to grow new talent. It’s also a tool for us to be able to cycle our cars and equipment through to the second series.
“We’ve been running Gen3 now for a while, we’ve got a stock of parts that are still nice. They’re probably not good enough for us to run main game, but certainly only halfway through what their true life is that could be used for Super2.
“For us, the earlier Super2 becomes Gen3 the better. There is big savings there with engines and whatnot. And trying to get ZB panels for our Super2 cars at the moment is becoming quite a mission.
“We’ll have a debate in the next two or three months. But I’m with Simon, let’s just make a decision, have a plan, and then we all know what we’re doing. At the moment, not knowing what is going on, it’s very, very difficult to plan the future.”
The final decision is expected to sit with the Supercars Commission, which is made up of Supercars Championship teams.
