Jackson Walls will join Triple Eight Race Engineering in the Repco Supercars Championship in 2026. Image: InSyde Media
The opportunity to step into what should be a race-winning package comes off the back of a debut Super2 season with Triple Eight that yielded a win at Queensland Raceway, while Walls currently sits fifth in the points.
The relative lack of runs on the board compared to the likes of Super2 champion Zach Bates and current Super2 points leader Rylan Gray has prompted commentary that there is a funding element to the Walls deal.
However, Jones, who runs SCT’s motorsport program, is adamant that it was a signing made on talent alone, inspired by famous US sports promoter Sonny Vaccaro.
“It’s an interesting one, isn’t it?” said Jones of the commentary around the Walls deal.
“I don’t like sitting on the fence. Some of the stuff I’ve seen this week is… just because people have opinions in this sport does not mean it’s factual.
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“For me, opinions, I love them, great, get them out there, it will push everyone to be better. But don’t hand them out like there are facts attached to them.
“We went through the process; there were five guys that were on our radar. I’m a methodical person, super unemotional about this. I had a Sonny Vaccaro moment at Ipswich.
“For me, race two, the guy that started on pole set his intention pretty heavily on the run to Turn 1 and was able to win that race having not been in that position all year. That for me was a catalyst to go, this guy has just gone up the pecking order in our world.
“I spoke to Barry [Ryan] a little bit about it this morning and he’s got cool stuff across the last few years that has happened at Erebus. He has the ability to see people ahead of the curve.
“I’m going to have a punt on this one. I feel we’re ahead of the curve here and [we will] back this guy.
“And just because people want to bring up absolute rubbish about why he’s in that seat, go your hardest. For me, it’s important that we bring the right person in.”
Walls is the 22-year-old son of billionaire Tony Walls, whose Objective Corporation software business has backed the youngster’s racing career to date.
Jones added that signing Walls had the full backing of T8 boss Jamie Whincup.
“It was line ball between two guys. Jamie and I got together and there is full support from within Triple Eight,” he said.
“I went to [Whincup] for counsel on that decision and we’re all in together.
“Is there going to be some work? Absolutely, there always is when you bring a rookie into this championship, it’s incredibly tough. The first six months of next year we will work our butts off.
“History will tell if we made the right decision or not.”