The Supercars-Triple Eight engine restrictor saga reflects poorly on both parties as 2024 champion Will Brown counts the cost of competing in eight rounds with an underpowered car.
Triple Eight revealed on Wednesday that Brown’s car has competed with an undersized engine restrictor that it said was costing him around 0.15 seconds per lap on average for the entire season to date.
The team accused Supercars of supplying it with the faulty control part, but the category hit back by arguing the restrictor had been supplied to the team for demonstration purposes only and wasn’t intended to have been used in competition.
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The discrepancy was discovered in the process of stripping down and rebuilding Brown’s car on a new chassis after a disappointing weekend in Perth, where he qualified a season equal-worst 19th for the Sunday feature race.
It was the second consecutive weekend in which he failed to qualify inside the top 10 for any race, and it left him trailing teammate Broc Feeney 7-18 and by an average of 0.273 seconds in qualifying for the season.
Speaking on MotorRacing 360, Supercars legend Mark Skaife said blame lay with both the team and the category for undermining Brown’s season.
“This is an awkward part of proceedings for both Supercars and Triple Eight because the responsibility for a control part being supplied to a team [is that it] must be of the right specification,” he said.
“Secondly, the team’s responsibility around preparing the car should always ensure that the control part is correct.
“There is still the onus on the team to prepare the car and present the car from a legality perspective — the team actually prepares the car and presents the car in accordance with that.
“Between the two parties, they’ve been running a 49-millimetre air restrictor rather than a 50-millimetre air restrictor.”
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Skaife said the tiny differences would be worth approximately 12 horsepower, or 9 kilowatts, at the top of the rev range, which would equate to different deficits at different circuits.
“Let’s talk recent ones: if you went to Darwin, that’s about 0.15 seconds, and at Perth recently it’s about 0.1 seconds,” he said.
“It doesn’t it doesn’t take Will Brown for instance from 12th to first, but it certainly makes [a difference].
“It’s awkward for everybody. It’s awkward for Supercars. It’s awkward for Triple Eight. It’s especially awkward for Will Brown, because all of the effort he and [race engineer] Andrew Edwards have been going to and the diligence they’ve been looking at what goes on with their performance week in, week out.”
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MotorRacing 360 host Jess Yates described the situation as “a bit of a cluster” stemming from Triple Eight’s February season launch in Geelong, before the race-spec control part was available.
“Whatever they’ve sent them was with the intention that it would be returned and then the standardised part [would be used during the season],” she said.
“The reality is it wasn’t going to be used for racing, so you can kind of understand when they’ve said, ‘Hey, we need a part to be able to do this activation. Can you help us?’
“Supercars have said, ‘No problem, we will do what we can to help you guys. This is what we have available. Here you go. Chuck that in the car. This will serve the purposes for this activation’ with the intention that they would then issue the standardised parts that were required to go racing.
“What’s also transpired is that they’ve requested the two parts. They’re actually a three-car team, so that has also fallen away in the process of issuing these parts and then wanting to put in the right things to go racing.”
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‘DEVASTATION’
Brown’s campaign has so far failed to fire for reasons that have, until this week, eluded both him and the team.
Though he was reliably adrift of teammate Feeney last season, the gap to the sister car in qualifying and race trim has widened in 2026, particularly over a single lap, with his qualifying deficit growing from 0.190 seconds last year to 0.273 so far in 2026.
The lack of pace had clearly become a burden on the 28-year-old, as was particularly evident in Perth, where Feeney rediscovered form to contend for victory in two of three races but a single top-10 finish for the weekend left Brown seventh in the standings and 585 points behind title leader Matt Payne.
He’s now 270 points clear of Jack Le Brocq in 10th place, the finals cut-off position, and 290 points ahead of James Golding in 11th.
Out of answers, the team committed to giving him a new chassis for the next race in Ipswich, which led to the discovery of the 1-millimetre discrepancy.
“I cannot quite explain to you the devastation that this poor guy is feeling in this moment,” Yates said. “If you’ve been at the track and you’ve seen the body language as he gets out of the car … he has had so much self-doubt through this period.”
Will Brown’s vital statistics
Qualifying result: 9.6 average
Qualifying head to head: 7-18 behind Feeney
Qualifying differential: 3.4 places behind Feeney
Time differential: 0.273 seconds behind Feeney
Race result: 9.0 average
Race head to head: 7-17 behind Feeney
Race differential: 4.6 places behind Feeney
Race pace: 11.346 seconds behind Feeney
Points: 1365-1832 behind Feeney (42.7-57.3 per cent)
MotorRacing 360 panellist James Phelps said the discovery came after Brown had been through the ringer of performance management at the team.
“They said he was underperforming,” he said. “He’s had some meetings. He’s had to do more hours in the workshop. I think he’s been questioning his whole set-up and where he’s at.
“For him to find out that there was something wrong with the gear, it’s got to be shattering.
“At the same time, Jamie himself is shattered. He’s given him that wrong equipment and probably had these really tough conversations with him about how to lift his performance.
“If I was them, I’d be asking for my points back, because they’d given me a part that was faulty — but they can’t, and that’s why it’s extraordinary.
“I really feel for these guys, because I know the hours they’ve been putting in. They’ve been doing 18-hour days at times, pulled that whole car apart, gone through everything, and it was probably the least expected component that’s brought them undone.”
Kostecki and Allen clash in Perth | 00:31
TWO CONTROVERSIES IN AS MANY WEEKS
The engine restrictor saga is the second technical drama to engulf the sport in as many weeks, following Supercars organisers confirming late last week that they would appeal the decision of the stewards not to penalise Kai Allen for running with under-inflated tyres in Perth.
The appeal hearing will take place on Monday in Melbourne, just days before the sport is due at Queensland Raceway for the Ipswich Super 440.
“It’s all up to the team,” Allen told the Supercars Drivers Only podcast. “I’ve never touched a tyre gauge in my life, so I’ve got no idea how that works.
“It’s very hard. Obviously the team are working through that. Something has obviously happened, and it’s triggered it.
“It’s a bit disappointing that there was a decision made and then they’re going back on it.
“I’ve got no idea what’s happening. I’ll either be very happy or very disappointed, but we’ll find out.
“It’s so hard. We’re chasing such fine margins, and everyone would be pushing the limits with everything.
“I’m letting the boys do their thing. At the end of the day, it is what it is, it will be what it will be.”
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