TRIPLE Eight is eagerly awaiting the chance to test itself on the major stages that are Spa-Francorchamps and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
On top of its Repco Supercars Championship commitments, Triple Eight’s growing international GT3 presence will take it to two crown jewel events this year.
Namely, it will tackle the final two rounds of the 2024 Intercontinental GT Challenge: the 24 Hours of Spa on June 27-30, and the Indianapolis 8 Hour on October 4-6.
That follows its race-winning summer campaign in the Asian Le Mans Series, through which it narrowly missed an invitation to the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.
It also last month contested the IGTC opener, the Bathurst 12 Hour, with two Mercedes-AMG entries, one in each of Pro and Pro-Am.
Long a powerhouse in Australia, Triple Eight is nervously anticipating its bid to take on the world.
“We’re super excited,” managing director Jamie Whincup told V8 Sleuth.
“We’re a bit nervous at the same time because they’re huge events, very, very hard to be competitive and we’re a small fish in a big pond over there.
“But that’s good, we’ll get ourselves out of our comfort zone and challenge ourselves.
“We’re rapt for the opportunity.”
Triple Eight is yet to announce its driver line-up for Spa and Indianapolis; Broc Feeney has however ruled himself out as he funnels full focus into a Supercars title tilt.
“I’ve knocked back to do those races,” Feeney told The Driver’s Seat.
“I’ve told them I don’t want to do Spa 24 and Indy 8 Hour just because it falls a week before Townsville and the Bathurst 1000.
“Everyone I talk to is like, ‘oh my god, are you serious? You’re turning down these events?’ But I’m trying to be a bit more mature about it.
“I spoke to everyone at the team. I sort of go, ‘I believe I’m in a position where in a couple of years, or next year, I will be able to go and do these races. I feel like the opportunity will still be there’.
“So I’m trying to take it in as much as I can this year to really focus on Supercars.
“It was a hard one. These are bucket list races that I could have done. But I feel I’ve made the right decision.
“Obviously I’m going to be kicking myself watching it on TV. But I couldn’t live with myself if I had shocker the next weekend.”
Luca Stolz, Prince Jefri Ibrahim and a mix of Feeney and Jordan Love formed Triple Eight’s 2023/24 ALMS roster.
The Banyo squad is also poised to enter Peter Hackett with a to-be-confirmed driver in this year’s GT World Challenge Australia.
“I couldn’t be happier with the GT program,” said Whincup.
“It’s going from strength to strength, so to get a couple of wins already this year has been fantastic, and now to get a couple of Supercars wins as well, it has been a great start to the year.”
Triple Eight leads the Supercars drivers’ and teams’ championships after Round 1.
