TRIPLE Eight Race Engineering boss Jamie Whincup believes its wildcard Chevrolet Camaro is its finest Gen3 Supercar yet.
888A-063 was publicly unveiled last weekend ahead of a maiden test today at Queensland Raceway.
It will make its racing debut at this month’s Darwin Triple Crown in the hands of Zane Goddard, who will then share the Supercheap Auto-backed entry with Craig Lowndes at the Sandown 500 and Repco Bathurst 1000.
Not only will it be the newest car on the grid at Hidden Valley, Whincup says its assembly benefited from lessons from its #88 and #97 Camaros for stars Broc Feeney and Shane van Gisbergen.
“Definitely,” he told V8 Sleuth when asked if Triple Eight’s third car might be even better built than its first two.
“I think you always improve your cars as you build them, so no doubt, this is the latest and greatest.
“There has been no shortcuts and we have had a little bit more time to put this one together as well.
“It’s a great looking race car and the commercial team both at Supercheap and at T8 have done a great job.”
As for what Goddard can achieve in his first solo start since November 2021?
“Let’s not over-expect, because it’s a new car and what we haven’t been able to see is the current drivers, how they have evolved over the last three or four rounds,” Whincup pointed out.
“They’re all evolving at the same rate so it looks like there is no difference but they would have learnt a hell of a lot in four rounds.
“So where guys like myself and CL (Lowndes) and Garth (Tander) and whatnot could just jump in the old car and we had 15 years of experience, you could get in and it felt absolutely like home and you’d be as competitive as the main series guys – that’s not going to happen this year.
“We’re still going to be learning the car come the Sandown 500.
“So for Zane, he is going to have that steep learning curve at Darwin and he is probably going to be one of the most prepared co-drivers come the Sandown 500 with a round under his belt.
“Overall I’m excited for him, I’m excited for the whole team, they have got a great opportunity and I’m going to give them everything they need.
“I’m certainly not standing on the outside saying don’t bend a new car: it’s go your hardest.”
Whincup also confirmed 888A-064, which was pre-purchased by Peter Adderton, will be ready in time for the enduros should the Boost Mobile founder put a wildcard program together. Rules state that Adderton’s car would need to partner a team other than Triple Eight, though.
Triple Eight’s pair of full-time cars, plus Dick Johnson Racing, Matt Stone Racing and PremiAir Racing will all be testing at QR today.
