FORD Performance Motorsports global director Mark Rushbrook has offered some praise for Supercars’ approach leading into the Darwin Triple Crown.
Parity has been a sore point dating back to Gen3 prototype testing last year, with the situation inflamed as Camaro drivers have been first across the line in all 12 races to date.
Rushbrook indicated there will be some level of change for Darwin, presumably again relating to engine mapping with recent gains reportedly found in trials at Symmons Plains (practice) and Queensland Raceway (testing).
Rushbrook has not held back on the parity matter, recently calling for better data transparency from the category and even issuing Supercars a not-so-subtle warning.
Asked for an update in the lead-up to Round 5 of the Repco Supercars Championship this weekend at Hidden Valley, Rushbrook was a little more optimistic.
“(There’s) progress in the sense that Supercars have actually been really good to work with in terms of making calibration changes as we go to Darwin,” he replied.
“And that’s good. The team senses, feels like they’re open to ideas and making progress and making changes there.”
But it’s not all rosy.
“I think what hasn’t changed is there’s still data transparency limitations, or lack of data transparency to really understand what those changes are going to mean relative to the competition on-track,” Rushbrook continued.
“We do understand that there is still a commitment from Supercars’ senior management and the board to move towards the transient dyno and the torque sensors but I don’t know the dates or timing for that.
“But I do believe that it is a very important part to have the right processes in place to truly deliver parity or confirm parity and be able to move forward from that, but that’s going to take time.
“Even once you get access to those resources, you don’t put the hardware on the transient dyno and get an answer that same day.
“It’s going to take time and processes and won’t be an immediate remedy.”
Rushbrook also reiterated that global homologation cycles will prevent its newly unveiled Mustang GT3 from racing in the 2024 Bathurst 12 Hour, despite the car making its competitive debut three weeks earlier at Daytona.
“Certainly for 2025 we want to have a lot of cars there,” he added of the once-around-the-clock Bathurst event.