Supercars, Triple Eight respond to #888 Ford discrepancy
Will Brown's Ford found to have run undersized engine airflow restrictor
Triple Eight committed to running Brown in spare car for Ipswich
Supercars and Triple Eight Race Engineering have responded amid the revelation that an engine discrepancy had been identified on Will Brown’s Ford Mustang.
The 2024 Supercars champion sits seventh in the championship heading to the Repco Sprint Cup finale, the Century Batteries Ipswich Super 440 on August 21-23.
Despite having one pole position and two podiums through 25 races and eight rounds, Brown is still firming to clinch a second consecutive Finals berth.
After Perth, where Brown was unable to qualify inside the top 10, Triple Eight announced it would move Brown into its spare chassis for the Queensland Raceway round.
Per a team statement, Triple Eight — which took over the control engine supply contract for all Ford teams this season — announced it discovered an undersized engine airflow restrictor on Brown’s Mustang on Tuesday night.
"After Perth we promised Will, his crew and all stakeholders associated with Car #888, which includes our beloved fans, that we would leave no stone unturned and find reasons why Car #888 has not been fighting for race wins recently," said Team Principal Jamie Whincup, who recently stated his team was "1000% behind" Brown.
"At 7pm last night we found a significant issue on Car #888.
"Since the start of this season, Car #888 has been running with an undersized engine airflow restrictor. This part manages the airflow into the engine and has a significant negative impact on engine performance, and therefore lap time.
"This is not a part we, Triple Eight or Red Bull Ampol Racing, manufacture. This is a supplied part from Supercars expected to be the same for all 11 Ford Mustangs, distributed at the start of the season and expected to be run for the whole season.
"We as a team are taking responsibility and want to deeply apologise to everyone involved for allowing this to happen.
"While this error has cost our team a considerable amount of resource, sport is an emotional game and these types of things have knock-on effects bigger than the average 1.5 tenths a lap.
"We will be taking up with Supercars why they have supplied us with what is a controlled component out of specification, which has negatively impacted the performance of Car #888 this season to date.
"We will continue to roll out our new chassis for Car #888 at Queensland Raceway and look forward to measuring our capability now we are competing with the same horsepower as the rest of the field."
A Supercars statement says: "Supercars acknowledges the finding that Car 888 has competed during the 2026 Supercars season with an air restrictor that is one millimetre smaller in size than is prescribed for the Ford Mustang.
"The component was loaned by Supercars to Triple Eight Race Engineering (T8RE) for demonstration purposes only at the team's launch in February.
"The air restrictor subsequently remained fitted to Car 888 through the Perth Super 440. Neither party identified the discrepancy until it was discovered by T8RE during preparations for next weekend's event in Ipswich.
"Throughout the Supercars season, routine scrutineering and compliance checks are carried out at random by Supercars’ Technical department, covering a vast range of components and systems. As of the Perth event, the air restrictor fitted to Car 888 had not been selected for inspection during those checks.
"Supercars is reviewing the circumstances surrounding this matter and will evaluate opportunities to strengthen its technical and operational procedures moving forward.
"Supercars acknowledges and appreciates T8RE’s identifying and prompt reporting of the matter to Supercars."
Brown will resume his 2026 campaign at Queensland Raceway on August 21-23. Tickets for the event are on sale now.
