TRIPLE Eight’s sensational one-two finish in the opening race of Supercars’ Gen3 era in Newcastle is under protest, V8 Sleuth understands.
A Motorsport Australia spokesman has confirmed to V8 Sleuth that a protest has been received following the 250km encounter.
It’s understood the protest has been lodged against Triple Eight, which finished first and second with drivers Shane van Gisbergen and Broc Feeney.
The issue is understood to involve driver cooling, which has been a hot topic with the Gen3 cars this weekend.
Triple Eight crew members appeared to add dry ice to both cars via the driver’s side door during pit stops in the race.
Regulations state “any driver cooling system that contains a cooling medium” must be “mounted within the cockpit utilising the mounting points designated in the GSD for the passenger seat”.
Triple Eight declined to comment on the situation, with a stewards hearing and outcome expected tonight.
The team has since last year used an electric system for driver cooling called a ChillOut, rather than the traditional dry ice coolbox.
Van Gisbergen revealed following practice on Friday that he’d been “struggling in the car”, declaring it the “hottest car I’ve driven in a long time”.
While extra heatshielding was allowed to be added to the cars overnight, temperatures were still considered a concern for some teams.
