THE boss of leading Ford Supercars team Grove Racing is adamant that parity still needs to be addressed prior to the 2024 Repco Bathurst 1000.
Chevrolet Camaros and Ford Mustangs raced fiercely at Albert Park, with friendly fire perhaps the Blue Oval’s biggest downfall there.
But engine parity continues to be chipped away at in the background, without which work Stephen Grove would be concerned.
“A huge problem, in my view, from a parity perspective is Bathurst: high altitude, long straights,” he told V8 Sleuth after the Melbourne SuperSprint.
“It’s clear, I think parity was triggered twice on each race (at the season-opener).
“(At Albert Park), it’s a different circuit, the altitude is pretty normalised and they race pretty hard, they’re short races, we don’t wear the tyres as much.
“It’s very close here, no question. Is it hidden? Do we need to do something before we go back to Bathurst? One hundred percent.”
Grove Racing sits second in the teams’ championship after two rounds, placed only behind Chevrolet homologation outfit Triple Eight.
Round 3 of the season unfolds this weekend at Taupō Motorsport Park.
It’s a big occasion for Grove Racing’s all-Kiwi driver line-up: Matt Payne and Richie Stanaway.
“If you look at the stats, I think 30 percent of all television viewers are from New Zealand,” said Grove.
“They love their motorsport over there so to go with two Kiwi guys is going to be really great for us and we’re really trying to leverage that and we’ll try to get a really good result over there. I think it will be pretty crazy.”
