Triple Eight Race Engineering and Supercheap Auto have officially launched their third consecutive Supercars Championship wildcard, in front of a packed crowd of fans at Maritime Green Northshore in Brisbane.
The team’s brand new Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro LTZ, featuring the synonymous #888 and donning the major backer’s iconic red and yellow corporate colours, was revealed to the public at a large fan-oriented event, which included driver appearances, entertainment, and fireworks. Wildcard drivers Zane Goddard and Craig Lowndes were on hand to pull back the covers of the striking test day livery, revealing the wildcard for the first time.
Supercheap Auto’s ‘Make It Super’ tagline features prominently across the team’s wildcard entry livery, and features support from Chevrolet Racing and Supercheap Auto’s trade partners: ACDelco, Century Batteries, Bendix, Bosch, Sony, Sperling, TurtleWax and ToolPRO X.
In conjunction to the #888 wildcard racing at the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000, the team also announced that Goddard will be making his long-awaited solo return to the Supercars Championship with a standalone wildcard entry at the upcoming Darwin Triple Crown. His entry into the event will see Goddard return to the series as a primary driver for the first time since 2021.
The team’s wildcard entry will see former Triple Eight race-winning engineer, Wes McDougal return to the helm as race engineer for the #888 Chevrolet Camaro. McDougal was race engineer to seven-time Supercars Champion, Jamie Whincup in his final full-time season of Supercars in 2021, and has previously worked with Goddard at Matt Stone Racing.
Since the commencement of Triple Eight’s Supercheap Auto-backed wildcard program in 2020, the team has seen two emerging stars of the sport in Broc Feeney and Declan Fraser graduate to the Supercars Championship in a full-time capacity. The wildcard entry at last year’s Bathurst 1000 piloted by Lowndes and Fraser had a standout result, finishing eighth – the highest placing ever for a wildcard entry at the ‘Great Race.’
“It’s awesome to have so many fans come out to our wildcard launch to see the car that Lowndesy and I will race for the first time. Red cars always look fast, and this is no exception. In Supercars, I’ve never had a brand-new car to race, so that’s a really cool experience. Usually, the cars I’ve had in the past have been hand-me-downs from Jamie and Shane (van Gisbergen), but to have a brand-new car is a cool opportunity. There’s going to be certain things to learn from a new car once we shake it down, but those are the experiences I’m really looking forward to. The car looks awesome with all the Supercheap Auto branding, and the crew back at Triple Eight have done a super job building it.
“It’s also a great opportunity for me to have a standalone wildcard entry in Darwin and get some laps under my belt before the enduro season, and I can’t thank Supercheap Auto and Triple Eight enough. I’ve obviously raced full-time before, but to also have a chance in the car to show what I can do is really cool. Darwin is always an amazing event, so I’m going to embrace the whole race meeting and hopefully we can get some good results. The guys and girls at Triple Eight have been putting in a lot of work behind the scenes to get the car ready, so hopefully we can repay them with a good result and take as much away from it as we can.
“Supercheap Auto have an amazing way of bringing the fans closer to our sport, and they have really outdone themselves at our 2023 wildcard launch. The crowd and the atmosphere here have really ignited my excitement to hit the ground running.
“Teaming up with Zane, I’m excited to make this year’s wildcard program bigger and more super. I’ve worked with Zane over the last couple of years throughout the early stages of Supercars’ Gen3 development, and I’m excited to finally share this beast of a car with him when we have our first test day at the start of June.
“It’s fantastic that Zane will be racing in Darwin, and I congratulate Supercheap Auto and Triple Eight for making that happen. Any laps in these new cars are invaluable, and hopefully he gets more comfortable with the car and the team before enduro season really kicks off later in the year. As I’ve mentioned before, Zane’s a fantastic young kid with great speed and a great head on his shoulders, and his return to the main game is truly deserved.
“Now that we’ve launched our Supercheap Auto wildcard, my focus is to work closely with Zane at our upcoming test days, ensuring we’re both comfortable in the car, and familiarising ourselves with our team of engineers and mechanics. Sandown can’t come quick enough!”
The Supercheap Auto Racing wildcard will make its on-track debut on 1 June at the team’s first official test day of 2023 at Queensland Raceway. The team will also launch an Indigenous-themed livery prior to the Darwin Triple Crown on 16-18 June, as well as an enduro season livery prior to the Sandown 500 on 15-17 September.
