GENERAL Motors’ flagship Supercars squad Team 18 has hit out at the politics that saw a late change applied to all Camaros on the Saturday morning of The Bend 500.
Supercars cited data from Friday’s on-track sessions as grounds for Chevrolet to have its maximum rear wing angle reduced by 0.3 degrees moments before Practice 4.
Anton De Pasquale still put his DeWalt Camaro on provisional pole, but it will be all Ford on the first two rows of the grid tomorrow following a decisive Top 10 Shootout.
Team 18 owner Charlie Schwerkolt asserted that the last-minute tweak was down to politics rather than parity.
Charlie Schwerkolt. Pic: Mark Walker
Adrian Burgess, who operates as Schwerkolt’s team principal, said his crew were refusing to drop their heads in light of the surprise twist.
“You go through a process with Supercars, quite an in-depth process,” Burgess, who was the category’s head of motorsport from 2019-23, explained to V8 Sleuth.
“You look at the data, you establish where the deficiencies are. We even tested things at QR (Queensland Raceway) on the test day in preparation.
“A lot of time and energy has been put into it and it’s pretty clear, you’ve had 15 triggers on the trot. You go through quite an extensive negotiation, you’re granted the change.
“Supercars know their process, they have to follow their process, you’re given the change, and then not for the first time you get some of the others shouting and screaming and crying, they’re threatening legal action and things, and suddenly they want to sit down and talk again.
“I don’t agree with it, I don’t think it’s right.
“The old-fashioned days of going racing and getting on with it are definitely gone. You’ve got to lawyer up to get anything, by the looks of it.
The #18 De Pasquale/Holdsworth Camaro. Pic: Mark Walker
“To use the rule that they did to enact a change, they said they’d studied data from practice and decided that they needed to make an adjustment. I mean, how can you tell from practice?
“It makes you question the integrity of everything we’re doing as a sport unfortunately.
“I love the sport, I have been doing it a long time, but days like that or processes like that, they don’t sit well with you.”
The #18 Chev of De Pasquale and Lee Holdsworth will line up fifth on the grid, with GM allies Zach Bates/Aaron Seton (eighth for Matt Stone Racing), Jobe Stewart/Jarrod Hughes (ninth for Erebus Motorsport) and Jayden Ojeda/David Russell (10th for PremiAir Racing) not far behind.
“We’re all working very hard, irrespective of the stuff that’s gone on the last couple of days. All the teams are, all the drivers are. Everyone is being very self-critical of where our weaknesses are against the opposition,” Burgess added.
“We’ve been working very hard and very collaboratively as a GM group and hopefully we’re starting to see good signs.”
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