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The rule change that could end the Mustang's Supercars dominance

Supercars will re-homologate the aero packages on all cars at the end of 2019, taking away downforce which is expected to reduce the dominance of the Ford Mustang

It is hoped re-homologation will help to avoid a repeat of this year's aero parity debate, which has seen ongoing in-season adjustments between the three models used in the series.

The parity battle trying to stop a Mustang walkover

It was started by the introduction of the Mustang for this season which, despite being signed off by Supercars and rival homologators during VCAT testing late last year, is thought to have started this season with a significant downforce advantage.

The Mustang has since had downforce taken away, while both the Nissan Altima and the Holden Commodore have been adjusted to help bridge the gap.

Only four races of 24 held this season have been won by other cars, as the Mustang has taken 20 victories.

Paddock speculation had placed the intended reduction in downforce as high as 40%, however Supercars technical chief Adrian Burgess says it won't be a dramatic drop to begin with.

"Long-term, it might be something that we look at more seriously, and take a larger amount away, but at the moment we're going to do it in such a way where we're not creating teams that go and design new this, and new that, and new this," said Burgess.

"It's just a first small step in a direction where I think every category is looking around the world, in terms of taking downforce off the cars."

With the VCAT process shouldering plenty of the blame for the aero parity issue, an active damper system will be used this time around.

It will allow Supercars to test downforce levels at different ride heights and rakes, eliminating the possibility for teams to fudge the system through purposely inefficient geometry.

The new-look VCAT system should help the category avoid the expense of overseas wind tunnel testing.

"We've improved the process, how we do the VCAT will change," said Burgess.

"Downforce changes with the ride height. So it's an improvement to the whole process.

'It was something that's been looked at in the past, but it wasn't done to the degree of accuracy or repeatability that you'd need, so we've been working this year on doing that, and we have run a few times with our own car to make sure we're happy with the process and happy with the accuracy of it."

Supercars CEO Sean Seamer added that the ultimate goal is to avoid a repeat of the ongoing tweaks seen so far this season.

"We've got to do the hard work now, so that we don't have to go through what we've gone through this year," he said.

Autosport understands the VCAT test will take place on the first week of December.

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