TRIPLE Eight intends to remain in Super2 next year and has credited Ford for being understanding of it continuing to run second-tier Commodores for one more season.

The Brisbane squad’s future in the Dunlop Series has been an interesting topic, given its impending shift from flying the General Motors flag to that of the Blue Oval in 2026.

So while it was immediately clear that it would race Gen3 Mustangs in next year’s Repco Supercars Championship, it was uncertain what that meant for its reborn Super2 program currently revolving around a pair of Holdens leased off Jason Gomersall.

Triple Eight had costed up the price of potentially reskinning those ZB Commodores as Gen2 Mustangs, but there will be no need.

There is of course precedent in Walkinshaw Andretti United running Fords in the main game and Holdens in Super2, albeit WAU is not the manufacturer’s homologation team – something which Triple Eight will become.

Nevertheless…

“There’s no drama there. Ford are very understanding,” Triple Eight boss Jamie Whincup told V8 Sleuth.

“It’s an awkward situation: we have got one year left of the current cars (in Super2), so they’re fully understanding that if it’s one year, no problems, there’s no point building new Gen2 cars for a single year.

“So we’ll run the current cars and keep developing our crew.”

‘Current cars’ more refers to the model than the exact chassis necessarily, given one brand-new ZB Commodore will be unleashed next year (having initially been earmarked for a 2025 Bathurst debut).

The other matter to read into from Whincup’s comments is an ongoing confidence that Gen3 machinery will become Super2-eligible in 2027, despite a push that emerged during the August Ipswich round to delay that transition.

“Relatively confident,” Whincup said of the chances of the 2027 timeline winning out.

Jamie Whincup checks out the Dark Horse R on display at Albert Park. Pic: Mark Walker

“That makes the most sense, so once everyone gets their head around it and what’s right for the sport… at the moment it’s probably still 50/50 while people are still talking about it and trying to get their heads around it.

“But I’m confident that the powers that be will work out what is the right call, and that is to transition to Gen3 in 2027.

“At the end of the day, Super2 is about developing drivers. The quicker we can get those guys and girls in current cars, the better they’re going to be for when they actually make that transition to Supercars.

“That’s the whole point of Super2, is getting drivers from there into the main game. That applies to the engineers as well, the mechanics, working on Gen3 cars in Super2, it’s a huge advantage for when they make that step up to the main game.

He added: “You can’t have the tail wagging the dog. It’s important the system is what it was designed for, so therefore 2027 makes complete sense.”