SUPERCARS’ Head of Motorsport Adrian Burgess has received full support from CEO Shane Howard amid the fallout from Triple Eight’s Newcastle disqualification.
Triple Eight was stripped of a one-two finish in Newcastle after being found to have run driver cooling boxes outside of their homologated position.
The team’s defence was that the offending cool boxes had been sighted and verbally approved by Burgess on the Thursday of the event.
Burgess’ denial of that was key in the initial stewards hearing, where he also indicated the team gained a performance advantage.
Triple Eight boss Jamie Whincup subsequently slammed Supercars’ handling of the matter in media interviews, alleging the truth was not told in the stewards hearing.
Even after losing the appeal the team has publicly maintained that approval was granted, an apparent sign of its lingering discontent from the saga.
“We completely disagree with that, and I think that was clear in the hearing,” Howard told media at Albert Park of Triple Eight’s insistence that approval was granted.
“There’s a lot of emotion in and around it. The facts are, you’re in breach.
“Was Adrian asked for approval? No, he wasn’t. Formally he wasn’t asked for approval and he didn’t grant it.
“There’s discussions around conversations or misinterpretation but I believe it was pretty clear and the decision has been made.”
MORE: Why Triple Eight appeal was dismissed
In addition to the Burgess situation, Whincup slammed Supercars in Newcastle for showing “a complete lack of competency” on driver safety.
Asked if any of Whincup’s comments verged on bringing the sport into disrepute, Howard added that the pair had discussed the matter privately.
“Obviously when you’re in a situation like that, there’s a lot of emotion running and people could say things that they probably could regret later,” he said.
“Jamie and I have discussed it post-this and we agree that the decision has been made and we move on.”
Triple Eight pointed to the rush to get to Newcastle as part of the reason why it installed the coolboxes to the right of the driver rather than the designated place in the passenger area.
It’s understood the team had that solution ready as it utilised it for cooling drivers during passenger ride days in the past.
Howard said Triple Eight could not expect any leniency based on its role in the design of the Gen3 car and its position as the General Motors homologation team.
Both homologation teams were part of an aerodynamic test a week out from Newcastle following concerns from Ford over parity.
“You have a responsibility as a team to operate within the rules,” Howard said.
“Difficulties and timings and things can obviously be a contributing factor but at the end of the day, the teams are to present cars that are compliant with the rules.
“There are rules and regulations that are in there and in place for all the right reasons.
“Yes, they have done an incredible job, that team, in designing these cars and there has been incredible workload as the whole of pitlane has done to produce and debut the cars – and we understand it because we know the effort that has gone into it.
“But it can’t be an excuse for non-compliance. You have to comply with the rules.”
The fallout is understood to have included a raft of teams clarifying ‘minor non-compliance’ issues on their own cars with Supercars in the lead-up to Albert Park.
Triple Eight team manager Mark Dutton was at the centre of the Newcastle saga but says he’s dealing with Supercars as normal in Melbourne.
“We have to be professional,” Dutton told V8 Sleuth of the ongoing working relationship.
“At the end of the day, I’m in my position, so Supercars have to work with me, they’re in their position so I respect their position.
“If you look today (Thursday), we were totally professional with each other and that’s how we continue to operate.”
Burgess is a former employee of Triple Eight, famously leaving the team midway through 2013 after being poached by the then Holden Racing Team.
Supercars has meanwhile made a minor change to driver cooling regulations this weekend, allowing teams to fit ‘pedal pads’ that act to reduce pedal temperatures.
