{"id":219439,"date":"2026-01-06T10:05:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T10:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/219439\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T10:05:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T10:05:17","slug":"whincup-blasts-secret-aero-cheat-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/219439\/","title":{"rendered":"Whincup blasts secret aero cheat claim"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TRIPLE Eight managing director <a href=\"https:\/\/www.v8sleuth.com.au\/stats-driver-1-Jamie-Whincup\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jamie Whincup<\/a> has lashed out at claims by international aerodynamicist Nick Wirth that the Englishman bent the rules during homologation of the Holden ZB Commodore Supercar.<\/p>\n<p>The ZB debuted in 2018, one year before DJR Team Penske introduced its all-conquering Gen2 Mustang.<\/p>\n<p>Wirth claims, via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=isrhaglBx04&amp;embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fspeedcafe.com%2F&amp;source_ve_path=MjM4NTE\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">an interview with The Hard Compound YouTube channel<\/a>, that he manipulated the VCAT aero parity testing process to give the ZB Commodore two-and-a-half times the downforce in race trim \u2013 something which he says Triple Eight never knew.<\/p>\n<p>Whincup, who was driving for Triple Eight at the time, responded with a strongly worded statement today.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/superstore.v8sleuth.com.au\/products\/v8-sleuth-magazine-issue-1?utm_source=SRBuyButton&amp;utm_medium=website\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/V8Sleuth-Magazine-1_91f7f282-3ced-4ad8-9031-10de31dcd2de_1024x1024.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re super excited to be back in the workshop this week and full steam ahead in building our brand-new Mustang race cars and engines,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile we\u2019re completely engulfed in innovation and striving forward, we also need to make sure our integrity is respected and any comments in the media are justified.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis week we\u2019ve had a supplier Triple Eight have used in the past make comment about work they performed many years ago and a local media outlet recklessly running a story on it without giving us an opportunity to comment or provide support evidence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe find these comments disturbing and are bitterly disappointed that if interpreted incorrectly it may raise questions on our integrity \u2013 something that is so important to us.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTriple Eight have always respected Supercars testing processes and gone over and above in working with the governing body to achieve technical parity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would never be associated with any person or company that contradicts this and if what Nick Wirth is saying on a podcast is correct he should never be welcomed to work in the Supercars pitlane again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s important to address this situation so bluntly, especially out of respect to the hard-working staff at Triple Eight and our fans.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/superstore.v8sleuth.com.au\/products\/triple-eight-race-engineering-the-cars-2003-2023-book?utm_source=SRBuyButton&amp;utm_medium=website\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/triple_eight_the_cars_1024x1024.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur focus is on going racing and delivering you guys lifelong memories this season and beyond!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Triple Eight has returned to Ford for 2026 as the Blue Oval\u2019s new homologation team and engine supplier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TRIPLE Eight managing director Jamie Whincup has lashed out at claims by international aerodynamicist Nick Wirth that the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-219439","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}