Triple Eight manager open to Camaro Supercar

Two-door bodyshapes are a hot topic in the Supercars paddock, thanks to Ford's confirmation that a Mustang will be developed and homologated for the 2019 season.

The news has already sparked chat of other two-door models, such as the Chevy Camaro and the Nissan GT-R, being introduced alongside the Mustang in the not-too-distant future.

Should GM decide to go down the path of a Camaro, a whole new development and homologation programme would be required due to the Supercars regulations.

As it stands, Triple Eight is GM's Supercars homologator through its status as Holden's factory team, and spent last season developing the new-for-2018 ZB Commodore alongside its racing programme.

While not quite ready to jump back into a parallel development/racing programme just yet, T8 team manager Dutton says once his crew has caught its collective breath he'd be more than open to developing a Camaro Supercar.

"I reckon it’d be great," he said when asked by Motorsport.com.

"Not the workload right now – we need a bit of a sleep, we haven’t had that yet.

"But I’ve always liked Camaros and Corvettes and things like that, I reckon they look fantastic.

"We like having fun. As I said, we want a little bit of sleep first, but I reckon the Mustang on track next year will be pretty exciting, it’ll look cool. I’ve always liked two-door cars myself.

"I reckon bring it on."

One major sticking point in terms of a short-term arrival of the Camaro is that the ZB is just four race weekends into its life-span.

In Supercars a four-to-five year life cycle is common, the VF having first been introduced in 2013 before being replaced by the ZB for this season. The Nissan Altima also debuted in 2013 and is still in service, while the Ford Falcon FG-X will have completed four seasons by the time it is retired at the end of this year.

That would mean any short-term arrival of a Camaro would mean either cutting the lifespan of the ZB short, or running two GM products simultaneously.

"I think what would be cool is if you could run different models of the same manufacturer," said Dutton. "Why not?

"There’s 14 ZBs on the track – imagine if there was seven ZBs and seven Camaros. That’d be cool."

More globally-recognised models joining the Mustang in Supercars could be a significant benefit to Supercars as it looks to expand beyond Australian shores.

According to series CEO Sean Seamer, even just the Mustang coming in has helped with discussions regarding overseas races.

"It’s garnered a lot of traction and attention here locally,” Seamer said.

“Because it is a cultural icon, not just in Australia but globally, it’s raised eyebrows in a positive way and has already had an impact on the discussions we’re having internationally.”

Seamer has already said he'd love to see Nissan's GT-R in the category, however the likelihood of that is complicated by the ongoing question marks over the brand's post-2018 future in Supercars.