Martin Short, Race Engineer for the #88 Ford Mustang and Supercars Championship leader Broc Feeney, gives an in depth preview of the upcoming Tasmania round, the post New Zealand debrief, and maximizing the potential of their new Mustang.

What do you and Broc focus on in the three weeks post New Zealand while the cars are coming back to Australia?
The focus is mainly on debriefing NZ properly and making sure we understand where we can improve. It’s also a good reset moment — physically and mentally — before getting back into preparation mode for the next run of events. There’s a lot of work in reviewing data and making sure we’re aligned on direction heading to Tasmania.

How long was the NZ debrief, and has there been a lot of work done on the car during the break?
The debrief was fairly in-depth, as we struggled for outright speed, particularly at Ruapuna. There’s always work going on in the background, even during the break — evolving the setup, refining processes, and making sure the car is in the best possible window for Tasmania.

You’ve joined Broc in his GT racing this year. Why do you both choose to race in that series during the Supercars season? Is it about time behind the wheel?
It was a big break in the calendar, so staying active helps keep us sharp. It’s about making quick decisions, building experience in different situations, and being able to adapt quickly when we get back into Supercars.

What do you both take from that series into your Supercars preparation?
You gain a different perspective — whether it’s race craft, traffic management, or adapting to different tyre characteristics. Even though the cars are quite different, there are always small things you can bring across that help.

Tasmania last year was the start of a very successful run for the #88 car with 2/3 wins at Symmons Plains. What learnings does 2025 give you going into this year in car set up, confidence in qualifying, and racing at Symmons Plains and following tracks?
Tassie suited us well last year, but with a new car this season we have to keep learning and adapting what we did previously to make it go faster. Every team evolves year-on-year, so you need to keep finding gains to stay competitive.

Is there a difference in track style and conditions between the first four rounds and Tasmania onwards?
Yeah, there is a shift. The next group of tracks tends to reward straight-line speed and braking performance, so getting those areas right will be critical. The earlier rounds were more technical and higher downforce, so it’s about adapting both the car and driving style.

The #88 car is leading the Drivers Championship after four rounds. Is the focus for you and Broc on consistent results, race wins, or learning and improving the new Mustang package?
It’s a bit of all three. Consistency is what puts you in a strong position heading towards the finals, but you still need to be chasing outright performance. We’re continuing to improve the car and maximise its potential, and at times that may mean taking a few more risks with setup direction if we’re not the fastest package.

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Peter Ringwood, Technical Director for the Red Bull Ampol Racing team, gives an in depth preview of the upcoming Taupo Super 440 round, including the change in track conditions from Sydney and Melbourne to the first race of the New Zealand double header.

Does it change the team’s preparation having not seen the cars for three weeks while they travel by boat to NZ?

We are geared up for tight turnarounds, so not having access to the cars for a prolonged period isn’t a big issue. It’s all about planning and preparation, we know the New Zealand rounds are coming up and can be ready for the unique logistics situation they present. Everything gets front-loaded, we get it done early or as soon as we can following the Melbourne round, and actually allows the mechanics, and other crew on the race team some time to recharge over Easter. We had a frantic start to the year and the crew worked incredibly hard through the end-of-year break on the engine program and the new-car builds, so this has been a valuable reset period for them.

Compared to SMP and AGP, does Taupo focus on high-speed or low-speed cornering?

Taupo is a different change of pace compared to Sydney Motorsport Park and Albert Park. The track is much tighter, more technical, and more traction limited which all impact the way the car is set up and driven. There are much fewer long, aero-loaded corners in Taupo compared to the Sydney and Melbourne circuits which we’re coming from, so mid corner rotation and drive are going to be a very large focus for us.

Taupo is known for a number of track surface changes through the lap, what does that mean for tyres and degradation?

The varying grip and varying surfaces have a large effect on the driving lines, especially in the wet, and it sounds like there will be some rain at some stage of the weekend. The surface sometimes means that if you miss a corner apex, stay wide, but are on a good surface, the lap time can be quicker.

Is the new Super 440 format, 2 x Saturday and 1 x Sunday races, going to be better or worse for tyre management and flat-out racing?

The mixed tyre format, between soft and super softs, has a large effect here in Taupo. It’s a track well known for high tyre degradation, but all races will be a flat out sprint.

The team saw a huge change in performance and fortune after Taupo last year. What was that weekend like and what were the learnings from it?

Taupo 2024 gave us several key setup learnings, especially around mechanical grip and balance, which translated into a much more competitive package as the season went on. The items we worked through there carried forward into the off-season and this year’s development direction so we’re hoping to come out strong on Friday for practice and carry some positive momentum in to the race weekend.

Are you expecting the Mustang to perform differently to the Camaro (last year) at Taupo?

As Taupo tends towards the lower speed side, the aero kit has less of an effect than say Sydney or Melbourne, but the aero kit is still doing a lot of work. The large tyre degradation at Taupo will also highlight any imbalance, so adapting to a different aero balance or stability margin with the Mustang will be a key focus. This track will highlight quickly whether we’ve got the platform in the right operating window or not.

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Mark Dutton, Team Manager for the Red Bull Ampol Racing team, gives an in depth preview of the upcoming Christchurch Super 440 round, and an insight in to team preparation ahead of the second race of the New Zealand double header.

Today, it’s Wednesday of race week, we’re setting up and servicing the #888 and the #88 cars today at Ruapuna ahead of the second event of this NZ double header. It’s been a few years since Supercars teams have been to a track they haven’t raced on before. That means no one has previous data or proven setups here. As a competitor we love these challenges, when everyone is basically starting from scratch, it’s a real test.

The track itself is quite technical, especially out of turn 4 then all the way to exiting turn 8, a small early mistake in that sequence of corners could result in a large time deficit as one corner flows into the next.

We’ve seen the Red Bull Ampol Racing cars fast at three different styles of tracks now in Sydney, Melbourne and Taupo. How important is having pace at both fast and slower, tyre friendly and high degradation circuits?

It’s critical, we need to be on the pace and able to tune our cars for all scenarios, this is easier said than done, the car performance between the teams is so tight, that the margin for error is so small.

Is the car performance ahead of where you thought it would be after the change to Ford Mustangs in 2026?

Definitely not ahead of schedule as we aren’t leading the Driver’s Championship, however we are extremely proud of where our performance is and what we have been able to achieve so early on in the season with the switch. With these cars, throughout the year, there is constant evolution, and refinement, you can never afford to be complacent and think you are in a sweet spot for the rest of the season.

There was again some bumper bashing in Taupo. Do you expect this to be the style of racing for the season and does that impact race strategy and approach?

We expect more rubbing in racing this year, just hope that it is kept hard but fair, and consistent.

This is the first Gen 3 Supercars race at Ruapuna. What have the team, Broc and Will done to prepare for next weekend?

I believe all or most the drivers in Supercars took the opportunity to do some laps in Ruapuna a few weeks back, whilst not in their Supercars, they all got to learn the circuit.

There are four races now in Ruapuna, with Friday added after Sundays race cancellation in Taupo. What are the key things the team and drivers need to consider with such a busy schedule and short turnarounds between sessions?

We have to be precise and follow our processes, and have our team mates backs more than ever when we’re on track so much so frequently over those three days of a race weekend.

Red Bull Ampol Racing are once again leading the Teams Championship. Outside of points and trophy, how important is front position in pit lane to the race team?
It is mega critical for us in so many ways. We use it as a constant reminder of our persistency in consistency, being the leading team in pitlane is our priority. Selfishly as car controller it makes my job in pitlane a little easier too.

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Will Brown, 2024 Supercars Champion and last season’s runner up, will race with #888 on his brand new Mustang GT for the 2026 Supercars Championship season, the race number made iconic by long time Triple Eight driver and motorsport legend Craig Lowndes.

Red Bull Ampol Racing driver Will Brown has decided on a race number to take to the track with ahead of the 2026 Supercars Championship season.

After making the request to Managing Director and Team Principal Jamie Whincup and speaking with previous Triple Eight teammate Craig Lowndes, who has raced with #888 on his car for the last twenty years, Brown will compete with the iconic number on his car for the 2026 Supercars Championship season with Lowndes’ blessing.

Lowndes won Triple Eight’s first ever race in the Supercars Championship back in 2005 in the #888 Betta Electrical Falcon. 2025 was Craig Lowndes and Triple Eight’s last year together after a 20-year relationship that accounted for more than half Lowndes’ 110 Supercars Championship race wins and six of his seven Bathurst 1000 wins.

Brown raced as #87 in his 2024 Supercars Championship winning season and first year with Triple Eight before adding the #1 to his car in 2025 as defending Champion. Will Brown and teammate Broc Feeney both recently signed three-year contract extensions that will see them with Triple Eight until the end of the 2029 Supercars season.

Triple Eight announced in January 2025 they will join forces with Ford Racing as the manufacturer’s Supercars Homologation Team from 2026 onwards, a move that will see the team race brand new Ford Mustang GTs driven by Broc Feeney as #88 and now Will Brown as #888.

Craig Lowndes, Former Driver, Triple Eight Race Engineering:

“This number is iconic to the team. In motor racing and in sports sponsors come and go, liveries change, kits change. But this is Triple Eight Race Engineering, that’s the number and it’s iconic with the success that comes out of this workshop.”

“When I first arrived I was lucky enough to carry the number and to see the legacy of the number continue on, it’s an iconic number for the sport, and it’s an iconic number for the team, so it’s going to be really great to see the car running around with that number on the side.”

“I know Will pretty well, to have him carry on that legacy I think that he’ll do it proud. He’s obviously a great young talent which does sound strange already being a Supercars Champion, he’s a proven young talent.”

“I think the new change of manufacturer, the new change of car, the new change of number, it’s all a good fit and I think at the start of the season he’ll come out punching.”

Will Brown, #888 Driver, Red Bull Ampol Racing Team:

“It’s cool to know I’m going into 2026 with such an iconic number on my car. Obviously there’s a lot of history there, I’ve watched the #888 race around for years now ever since I started watching the sport.”

“For me there wasn’t a question mark, I’ve had two great years already with the team – one awesome year with the Championship win and one great year last year fighting all the way to Adelaide, so it meant a lot to me to start the conversation about 2026 and my race number.”

“With Craig leaving the team he thought it best that the #888 number stay with Triple Eight, he was really keen for it to stay here. That was a really easy conversation to have knowing how much it meant to him. I’m really excited to go racing with that number.”

Race 1 Qualifying: 4th (1:28.2173)
Race 1 Result: 1st

Race 2 Qualifying (TTSO): 9th (1:31.9662)
Race 2 Result: 6th

Race 3 Qualifying (TTSO): 1st (1:29.6792)
Race 3 Result: 1st

“This weekend, first round of the season, overall a great weekend. I mean, Friday was obviously a great start. Qualified fourth and then went on to win that race which was fantastic. First race with Ford, or first race back with Ford. That was a huge team effort, so to get that win was unreal.”

“Saturday was a little bit tougher for us. We got a bit of rain in the shootout which made it more difficult for a few runs and one of those was us, put us back a bit to start the race. To be honest we had a fantastic race. Take out a pit stop blunder and we had a fantastic race, but that fifteen second penalty for that blunder is a killer.
To recover to sixth then was an effort and a good effort, and even without the result we wanted it felt like every day we made a step forward with this car. It’s really good and we’re still learning so much about it.”

“Then Sunday was great! Car felt really good once again, made another huge step forward, was able to go from tenth in qualifying (pre-shootout) to first in the shootout and then really just manage the race from start to finish. Had some cool suit problems out there and combined with it being a super hot day here in Sydney… not great, made it a hard one. To be battling with that then battling with Kai (Allen) on track who’s fast and having a great weekend was tough there for a bit. It rained which changed things up, then he had a problem with his car so after that it was just managing everything to the finish.”

“But overall just stoked with the effort from the team. The amount of hard work that’s gone in over you know the past twelve months since we made that Ford announcement but really the last three months to get us in a position to lead the Championship after round one with this car is fantastic.”

Red Bull Ampol Racing team drivers Broc Feeney and Will Brown have both signed three-year contract extensions that will see them with the team until the end of the 2029 Supercars season.

Back in 2023 both Feeney and Brown signed contracts with Triple Eight until the end of 2026 with Will Brown joining the team as a replacement for Supercars Championship winner Shane Van Gisbergen at the time. This latest extension adds three years to the current contracts for both Red Bull Ampol Racing drivers.

The team announced the driver contract extensions in a video using fictional characters Wheeler and B-Feen, a throwback to the 2016 promotional videos featuring J Dub (Whincup), Cappy (Lowndes) and Gizzy (Van Gisbergen), the team’s drivers at the time.

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO HERE: https://youtu.be/dsAGAzTomOQ

Brown, currently in his second year with Triple Eight, won the 2024 Supercars Championship in his first year with the Red Bull Ampol Racing team.

In his two seasons with Triple Eight, Brown has started forty-five Supercars races, winning six and finishing on the podium twenty-eight times. Consistent top-three finishes in 2024 saw Brown claim the 2024 Supercars Championship over teammate Broc Feeney by 222 points at the final round in Adelaide.

While at Triple Eight, Brown has also driven as a part of the NASCAR Cup Series in the United States in both 2024 and 2025, as well as competed in the Formula Regional Oceanic Championship for open wheel racing where he won the 2025 New Zealand Grand Prix.

Broc Feeney, currently leading the Supercars Sprint Cup going into the final round at Queensland Raceway, has been driving with the Red Bull Ampol Racing team since entering Supercars full-time in 2022 as a nineteen-year-old.

In his five seasons with Triple Eight, Feeney has started over one hundred Supercars races winning twenty-two and finishing on the podium forty-one times. Before being elevated to the Red Bull Ampol Racing team, Feeney drove as part of Triple Eight’s Wildcard program at Bathurst with Russell Ingall in 2021 after winning the Super2 series that same year.

2025 has been Feeney’s best season to date with nine pole positions and ten wins from twenty-one races.

Feeney and Brown will take to the track at Queensland Raceway for the Century Batteries Ipswich Super 440, the Queensland-based team’s ‘home’ race from 8 August.

Triple Eight announced in early 2025 a move from GM after a sixteen-year relationship to be the Supercars Homologation Team for Ford as a part of a long term strategic and commercial partnership that will see the team race Ford Mustangs from 2026 driven by Feeney and Brown.

Jamie Whincup
Managing Director
Triple Eight Race Engineering

“In motorsport, it’s not easy to find a genuinely positive dynamic between two drivers. So to have two guys who not only get along well but are also fully committed to the bigger picture—driving each other forward and lifting the whole team—is something quite special.”

“That’s exactly why I’ve pushed hard to lock in this driver lineup for the long term. It’s a massive win for Triple Eight. Two of the best drivers in the field choosing to build their future here speaks volumes about what we’re creating.”

“At the end of the day, drivers want to be in the best machinery, with the best team around them. Will and Broc wouldn’t have made this commitment if they didn’t believe Triple Eight could continue to deliver at the highest level. Their decision is a huge vote of confidence in our crew and everything we stand for.”

“Personally, I just love what these two bring to the table. They are, without doubt, two of the most naturally talented drivers in the country. Their driving is dynamic and exciting—it’s the kind of stuff that makes people fall in love with the sport. But it’s their attitude that really stands out. They’ve both got an incredible work ethic, not just when the helmet’s on, but in everything they do. They’re the kind of people who return their shopping trolley to the rack when they’re done—genuinely good humans who care about the little things.”

“Their enthusiasm is infectious and aligns perfectly with the mindset we’re building here: glass half full, team-first, possibilities are endless. That kind of energy lifts everyone around them, and it’s a big reason why we’re so excited about the future.”

Will Brown
Driver #1 Chevrolet Camaro
Red Bull Ampol Racing

“It’s cool to re-sign, obviously it’s fairly early, I had another year on my contract, but I think it’s cool after winning the Championship last year that the team has come to us and wanted to re-sign us sooner than later to lock us down.”

“For me there wasn’t a question mark, no question mark about the team in any way, I’m very happy here, the team does such a fantastic job. So to re-sign with this team is amazing and this soon makes it even better. Looking forward to having my future sewn up and just concentrating on the racing.”

“Obviously, you have Broc going pretty well, I was really happy to hear that both Broc and I signed on together. For me it’s about having a competitive teammate, which I absolutely do have this year that’s for sure. He’s been doing a fantastic job, but it pushes you to be better and it also keeps the team operating at a very high level, that’s all of our crew, all of our crew are the best of the best and if we can have that in drivers it sets us up.”

Broc Feeney
Driver #88 Chevrolet Camaro
Red Bull Ampol Racing

“It’s awesome to sign a second contract with Triple Eight. After signing a long term deal initially, then to sign on for another multi year deal is really exciting.”

“For me, there was no other place that I’d rather be here in Australia and, you know, I’ve always loved being with Triple Eight here so it’s awesome to already be renewing for the future. I think the results this year are showing the strong relationship that we’ve got here, and Triple Eight’s not one to go through drivers, a lot of the guys have been here for a very long time, so hopefully I can continue to get the results and hopefully some big trophies to go with it in the next few years.”

“Obviously Will and I get along pretty well, it’s always good to get along really well and work together well and I think it’s really good for team and really good for the future, locking in younger guys that can stick around for a long time, it’s exciting. I mean, now I don’t have to think about anything else except for winning for another few years, which is a good mentality to have.”