Triple Eight Race Engineering has revealed it discovered a 49mm restrictor on Will Brown's Ford, one millimetre smaller than specified, last Tuesday. The finding came after the season had already begun, sparking questions in the Supercars paddock as to why the team was not referred to the stewards.
The restrictors are supplied by Supercars, and Triple Eight publicly questioned why it had been given a component "out of specification". However, the onus is ultimately on the teams to present legal cars, and Triple Eight's statement was a confession it had not done so.
Team Manager Jamie Whincup explained that the case falls under a minor non-compliance. "Of course we thought of that," he told Speedcafe. "It falls under a minor [non-compliance] and then of course it goes to the process of, was it an advantage? Clearly it wasn't an advantage, so we weren't concerned about the rules."
Had the case been referred to stewards, Triple Eight could have changed its story, leaving no actual proof the wrong restrictor was used. Whincup also confirmed that discussions with Supercars have taken place since the team's bombshell announcement.
Supercars had previously claimed it loaned the smaller restrictor to Triple Eight solely for its pre-season demonstration in Geelong. Whether Triple Eight was informed of that remains up for debate. Whincup admitted no one can recall that detail. "We rang up and said we need a restrictor for this car, we need to run it and a restrictor got delivered," he said.
Speedcafe understands Triple Eight subsequently ordered two more restrictors for the start of the season, for Broc Feeney's car and its new Jackson Walls-driven third entry. This expansion may have contributed to the confusion during a chaotic period.
Whincup described the moment as "very, very hectic" with a communication breakdown. "Obviously we assumed that was our restrictor for the year. Whether that got communicated or not, no one knows," he added.
Supercars typically supplies anodised restrictors with colour-coded sizes to avoid such confusion, but Whincup said this did not occur. "We had un-anodised restrictors and when we investigated, every other Ford has an anodised restrictor. So we got a batch before the batch," he explained. "But we only see our cars, we don't see anyone else's cars. So we could have twigged, why isn't ours anodised and everyone else's is?"
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