Triple Eight Race Engineering – one of Australian Supercars’ most dominant teams – has announced it will part ways with General Motors at the end of the 2025 season. The powerhouse squad will switch to Ford Mustang GT race cars in 2026, returning to The Blue Oval’s fold after 15 years with its longtime rival.
Triple Eight last raced under the Ford banner in 2009, fielding twin Ford Falcon racers before switching to the Holden Commodore for the 2010 season. From 2003 through 2009, Triple Eight’s Falcon race cars produced three Bathurst 1000 wins and back-to-back driver’s championships with Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes. Triple Eight is set to become Ford’s official homologation team beginning in 2026.
Whincup, who stepped away from fulltime Supercars competition in 2021, weighed in on the switch. “This team is incredible – none of our achievements would have been possible without the passionate people in this organization,” he said in a press release.
He added, “The Blue Oval is more than a logo, and this isn’t just about winning. We recognized the same passion at Ford that we have here at Triple Eight. Everyone in this team has a fire in their bellies to continue our success, and to bring an exciting show for our fans.”
Currently, Triple Eight fields three Chevy Camaro ZL1 race cars, tag-teamed by defending champion Will Brown, Broc Feeney, Zach Bates, Scott Pye, Whincup, and Lowndes. The team’s decision to part ways with GM isn’t all that surprising, given that Chevy doesn’t have a massive representation in Australia and New Zealand, limited to the Chevy Silverado and Chevy Corvette. Moreover, the Chevy Camaro is officially dead as a roadgoing car, meaning that the Supercars Camaro race cars don’t even represent a model that can be purchased off the showroom floor anymore. That puts GM in a sticky situation in Australian racing, as reported by our sister publication, GM Authority.
Supercars’ Ford Mustang GT, on the other hand, is derivative of the seventh-generation Mustang. The future looks much brighter for the Ford teams, especially now that they’ve gotten a handle on the new racers after struggling for a few seasons. However, while The Blue Oval is gaining Triple Eight, it’s losing Walkinshaw Andretti United to Toyota when the Japanese manufacturer joins the series in 2026.
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