Red Bull Holden Racing boss Roland Dane calls for Supercars to address Mustang edge
As Mustang romped to its ninth win from 10 races this season, Red Bull Holden Racing team boss Roland Dane claims the rampaging Ford has an aerodynamic advantage that Supercars cannot ignore.
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Red Bull Holden Racing team boss Roland Dane has claimed the rampaging Mustang has an aerodynamic advantage that Supercars needs to address.
As the Mustang romped to its ninth win from 10 races this season at Phillip Island on Sunday, Dane said the enforced centre of gravity changes to the car needed to be followed by more scrutiny of the Ford aero package.
The Mustang was put through extensive aerodynamic testing ahead of its introduction to the series, but its dominant start to the year ignited an immediate debate over parity. Controversial in-season centre of gravity testing was ordered after the second round at Albert Park and the cars made to redistribute weight in a bid to equalise the field.
But Dane said more changes were needed after the Mustangs dominated the Holdens at Phillip Island.
“The CoG change clearly needed to be made, but there is more to do,’’ Dane said.
“That’s up to Supercars to deal with and not the teams.
“There is an aero imbalance that needs to be corrected somewhere and that’s Supercars’ job, not ours.
“They have (an aerodynamic advantage). It’s a matter of fact, so Supercars acknowledge it, so hopefully they will do something about it.
“That’s up to them to deal with.”
Supercars said it did not have anymore aerodynamic testing planned at this stage, but its motorsport team analysed the data from each round and would investigate if any issue was noticed.
As Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard led DJR Team Penske to back-to-back wins at Phillip Island, it was a lean weekend for the factory Holden team Triple Eight.
Shane van Gisbergen was sixth and seventh, while seven-time series champion Jamie Whincup failed to finish on Saturday after a lost wheel following a pit-stop error and could only manage 12th on Sunday.
“Could do better and should do better,’’ Dane said of their Phillip Island results.
“We saw Anton (De Pasquale in third on Sunday) managed to get a result out of the (Commodore) that we should have been able to as well.
“We need to do a better job than we have this weekend in our own little world as well and we will do.”
Whincup, in particular has taken a big hit in the championship standings, slipping to ninth after sitting second behind McLaughlin before the previous round in Tasmania. Van Gisbergen is fourth.
“I’m pretty confident we will get some of that back,’’ Dane said.
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