WAU trusts Gen3 despite 'conspiracy theories'

Triple Eight has led the development of the new-spec car, not just as the General Motors homologation team but as an engineering partner with Supercars.

T8 boss Jamie Whincup said back in August that his team had done 90 per cent of the Gen3 development, while Dick Johnson Racing had been responsible for five per cent as the Ford homologation team and the other teams had shared the final five per cent.

That is a somewhat unique model with T8 designing and developing a car that it will the compete both with and against next season.

There have been consistent rumbles of discontent from rivals during the development of the Gen3 car, mostly over the ever-shortening timelines.

However there has also been whispers of concern that T8 will head into the 2023 with an advantage due to its in-depth understanding of the Gen3 package.

Speaking in the lead-up to the Repco Bathurst 1000, Walkinshaw Andretti United co-owner Walkinshaw acknowledged that 'conspiracy theories' are difficult to avoid given a rival team is developing the car.

However he added that he and his team have a growing trust that Supercars is being as transparent as possible as the project reaches its conclusion.

"Look, every single team is always going to have a little bit of a conspiracy theory that there is an advantage with the homologation teams," said Walkinshaw when quizzed on the matter by Motorsport.com.

"And in some ways there is, as they know what is coming before we all do.

"You are a little bit of a slave to the system, which is obviously frustrating for us especially when we know we can do a lot of that work ourselves. However I think Supercars has done a relatively good job of managing that so far.

"At the end of the day the proof is going to be in the pudding, and we are not going to know until when we go to our first test, with all the cars on the track together, just how close they are to each other."

WAU is undergoing a bigger change than most to welcome the Gen3 era, with the squad defecting from GM to Ford.

According to Walkinshaw, the double transition is now underway following the mid-year delays to the Gen3 programme.

"The last few months have been a big improvement on getting information from Supercars," he said. "We can start developing parts and start building parts of the chassis, so that is promising.

"The engine work is going really well as well which is encouraging. The parity of the engines is looking really good as well, which is a critical step for this category as we have to have parity.

"We are working really closely with Ford. It’s a great relationship and they have been fantastic and so far. They have exceeded expectations on the partnership even before we are fully in bed together, so I’m really excited for the future on that front."

When asked when he expects WAU to have its Mustangs up and running, Walkinshaw said: "As soon as we build it and that is not going to be for a while, to be honest, as we still have a fair bit of work to do.

"We are hoping to have cars ready for December. That is the plan for the whole category at the moment."