Triple Eight has been forced to complete a precautionary engine change on the #88 entry following a highly challenging start to the weekend. The car, shared by Broc Feeney and Nick Percat, has struggled significantly since practice began on Thursday, prompting the technical squad to work intensively to diagnose the mysterious lack of performance.
The issues culminated in a shock omission from the Top 10 Shootout after Broc Feeney could only manage 12th place during Friday's qualifying session. Across the six practice sessions conducted prior, the prominent Ford entry recorded an average finishing position of just 18th, a stark contrast to the team's usual competitive standards.
This engine change makes Triple Eight the latest Ford squad to swap power units, following similar actions taken by Grove Racing and Dick Johnson Racing. Triple Eight technical director Pete Ringwood emphasized that the decision was taken purely as a preventative measure to eliminate any potential uncertainties ahead of the main race.
“It’ll be a precautionary engine change,” Pete Ringwood told Speedcafe. “We don’t see any problems with it, but we have six hours this afternoon to work through it. So any question marks, anything we can tidy up, of course we’ll do it.”
Alongside mechanical hurdles, Broc Feeney was among several drivers vocal about poor performance and inconsistent feel from the brake pad allocation. The team attempted to bleed the braking system midway through qualifying, but a costly mistake at the final corner ultimately kept the young driver out of the coveted Shootout.
Pete Ringwood explained that the team's struggles extend far beyond the braking department, encompassing complex long-run balance parameters and fuel management variables. Understanding how the car behaves as fuel burns off remains a critical objective for the engineering group.
“I think there’s a range of things we’re working through,” Pete Ringwood added. “Brakes are one of many. Long run balance, long run degradation, as we start to put more fuel in the car, how it burns off over the stint… We’re trying to understand what we need from a balance point of view and a set up tuning range to adjust during the race as well.”
While the mechanical refresh may yield marginal gains, it is not anticipated to completely bridge the considerable speed deficit along the straights. Optimizing corner exit speed remains paramount for the team to remain competitive against their rivals as track conditions evolve.
Despite the hurdles, optimism persists within the camp as engineers analyze varying fuel loads across the entire field during practice sessions. Mastering the exits at critical sections of the circuit is viewed as the primary avenue for lap time recovery.
“We’ve seen clearly the straight lines are heavily affected by corner exit; out of Turn 1, out of Forrest’s Elbow, they’re critical to having a good run,” Ringwood concluded. Meanwhile, Triple Eight's customer entry also required a late engine swap, while the sister car successfully locked in fourth on the grid.
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