How the Supercars landscape is changing

It’s now a full year since Ford and Triple Eight revealed to a shocked Supercars pitlane that they would be throwing their stones into the pond together in 2026 and beyond. The ripples that emerged from that are now starting to be felt, though possibly not in the way many may have expected.

A year ago, after the second round of the 2025 championship, the score was level; Ford and Chevrolet had scored three wins apiece. This time around, with one more race (because the fourth and final race was cancelled at Albert Park last year due to bad weather), Chevrolet has taken one win and Ford six. 

What does catch the eye is that Triple Eight has scored three of those wins, all achieved by Broc Feeney. The other three have gone to Brodie Kostecki, the 2023 Supercars champion now driving for Dick Johnson Racing, previously Ford’s designated homologation team – a role now filled by Triple Eight, which itself was previously the Chevrolet HT.

While many expected to see Triple Eight resume its Ford Supercars journey with all guns blazing, what has happened is that the rising tide has lifted all the Ford teams. Between seasons the three makes involved in the series and Supercars itself executed extensive aerodynamic parity testing that has brought changes to Ford’s Mustang and Chevrolet’s Camaro, and theoretically paved an even road for Toyota to join the series with its GR Supra.

Ford drivers filled the top four places in the championship. And Ford operations occupied the top four places in the Teams’ championship

By itself a 6-1 score card suggests that process has not quite been a success, in particular since Chevrolet’s sole win was delivered by Anton De Pasquale at Sydney Motorsport Park. That was the 10th of his Supercars career and his sixth at that venue; one seasoned pitlane observer noted that “you could put ADP in a twin-tub washing machine and he would put it on the podium at Eastern Creek [sic]”.

Nevertheless Team 18, Chevrolet’s new homologation squad, celebrated the milestone with some gusto (as it should) and set sights on continuing the run in Melbourne. Albert Park had been a Chevrolet fortress. Prior to this season it was undefeated in all 11 races run under the Gen3 regulations since 2023, and three different teams had shared those wins.

This time around four Ford drivers topped the round points and, leaving the Australian Grand Prix-supporting races, Ford drivers filled the top four places in the championship. And Ford operations occupied the top four places in the Teams’ championship. 

De Pasquale delivered Chevrolet’s sole win so far at Sydney Motorsport Park

Photo by: Edge Photographics

On the face of it, Supercars traffic appears to be going all one way. But that doesn’t tell the full story. General Motors is playing a strategic game. When Ford and Triple Eight dropped their news, GM was quick to respond. It recruited long-time T8 engineer Jeromy Moore to work on its programme and he was involved in the between-season parity testing.

But in October GM announced that Moore, who also has experience with Porsche’s WEC team, would be chief engineer on its Cadillac LMDh programme, potentially reducing his impact on the Chevrolet Supercars effort.

GM has looked to cover that by its most recent recruitment. It has signed engineer Grant McPherson, Ford team Grove Racing confirming the move in a strongly worded media statement. McPherson was a key man in Grove’s 2025 successes, including the Bathurst 1000 win, and the team management is clearly less than happy that he is departing.

The vastly experienced engineer has previously won Bathurst with Ford Performance Racing (now Tickford), Triple Eight and Walkinshaw Andretti United (now Walkinshaw TWG) and he will take on his new GM role once his tenure expires at Grove.

Feeney looked every bit the equal, at least, of his vastly more experienced-in-GT3 co-drivers

Chevrolet’s next sortie may involve recruiting drivers and possibly a team to its side but, for now, the sun shines brightly in Ford-land. In Melbourne, Ford Performance boss Mark Rushbrook suggested there may be other opportunities for its Supercars drivers and, with Cameron Waters, Will Brown and Kostecki having experienced NASCAR, US stock cars would be an obvious area for its drivers to venture.

On the other hand, Feeney hasn’t shown any great leaning towards NASCAR. Rushbrook was quick to praise his recent performance in its GT3 Mustang at the Bathurst 12 Hour. The car may have been taken out of the race early by an errant kangaroo, but to that point Feeney looked every bit the equal, at least, of his vastly more experienced-in-GT3 co-drivers.

Rushbrook said in Melbourne that Ford oversees 34 current motorsport projects. It would be no surprise to see an Australian-based Supercars driver (or drivers) appear in NASCAR or GT3 sometime soon. A 35th programme, an LMDh World Endurance Championship effort that includes Le Mans, is under development. Ford has named three drivers so far; more will be needed… 

This article is one of many in the monthly Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the May 2026 issue and subscribe today. 

Feeney shone alongside Dennis Olsen and Christopher Mies in the HRT Ford Racing Ford Mustang GT3 at Bathurst

Photo by: Getty Images