{"id":91197,"date":"2025-10-21T01:50:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T01:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/91197\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T01:50:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T01:50:10","slug":"supercars-news-jamie-whincup-wont-rule-out-fourth-triple-eight-entry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/91197\/","title":{"rendered":"Supercars news: Jamie Whincup won\u2019t rule out fourth Triple Eight entry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Whincup
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTriple Eight will expand to three cars next year. Image: Supplied<\/p>\n

The Brisbane-based squad will next year return to a three-car model for the first time since 2018 with the addition of the SCT entry that is currently run out of Brad Jones Racing.<\/a><\/p>\n

While Triple Eight\u2019s previous three-car expansion involved attracting sponsorship to accommodate star driver Craig Lowndes, the latest move is a customer arrangement.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a somewhat surprise development given that a three-car model creates various logistical headaches,<\/a> including in a pit lane structured around two-car squads.<\/p>\n

Asked following Friday\u2019s announcement whether the team would look to add a fourth entry, Whincup said: \u201cListen, never say never, but that\u2019s probably not a discussion for today.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a huge announcement that we\u2019re expanding our Supercar program by 50 percent and running a running a third car for Andy [Jones] and SCT. So bloody excited about that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s more exciting announcements to come in the near future on who will drive the car, and then we\u2019ll start to roll out more of the detail and the minor detail on how the programs can run.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unresolved complication of SCT, Triple Eight deal<\/a><\/p>\n

SCT Motorsport boss Andrew Jones made clear last week that a driver has already been signed<\/a>, the identity of which is currently the subject of rampant speculation.<\/p>\n

The driver is believed to be Triple Eight Super2 runner Jackson Walls \u2013 the 22-year-old son of Objective Corporation founder and racer Tony Walls.<\/p>\n

SCT has already announced that it will split with its current driver Jaxon Evans at the conclusion of 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whincup meanwhile stressed the SCT car will be \u201cexactly the same spec\u201d as the Red Bull Ampol Racing entries driven by Broc Feeney and Will Brown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d had approaches in the past, and it wasn\u2019t viable, wasn\u2019t feasible,\u201d Whincup said of accepting a customer car into the Banyo fold.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then, when he asked recently, I reassessed the situation, and all of a sudden it made a lot of sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had had all the equipment available, some fantastic personnel available from our wildcard entry, which was then going to move on.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we had a lot of pieces of the puzzle all ready to go, but really, holistically, we\u2019re an engineering business that goes racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe provide a motorsport service at the at the highest level. We\u2019ve provided that service to Super2 teams, to GT teams, to a third entry back when Lowndes was driving the Caltex car.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we\u2019ve done this in the past. This is what we do. So exciting times for us to be sporting a third car again for SCT Motorsports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones \u2018family element\u2019 not a factor in SCT switch<\/a><\/p>\n

The expansion to a third car appears a big commitment as Triple Eight makes the switch from GM to Ford next season.<\/p>\n

Its Blue Oval move includes taking over homologation team and engine supplier duties from Dick Johnson Racing and its offshoot Motorsport Powertrains.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy job is to certainly make sure we don\u2019t oversell ourselves, but we\u2019re certainly not doing that,\u201d said Whincup.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it\u2019s going to be challenging, the last 20 years have been challenging as we move models and change programs and things like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it\u2019s something we\u2019ve done many, many times before and we\u2019re excited for the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Triple Eight is also expected to begin a customer relationship with the Blanchard Racing Team next season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Triple Eight will expand to three cars next year. Image: Supplied The Brisbane-based squad will next year return…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[68409,20577,111,139,69,61574,1058,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-91197","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-jackson-walls","9":"tag-jamie-whincup","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-sct-motorsport","14":"tag-slot1","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91197","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=91197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}