Erebus Motorsport’s leader, Barry Ryan, has delivered a fierce critique of the Supercars series’ Chevrolet drivers, including his own, after a disappointing season start. With Ford dominating by clinching seven of the first nine races, Chevrolet’s only notable achievement was Anton de Pasquale’s win in Sydney, which remains the brand’s sole podium this season.
During the recent Taupo race, de Pasquale was again the top Chevrolet finisher but could only manage a 10th-place position. Currently, he stands as the highest-ranked Chevrolet driver in sixth place in the championship. Following the team’s underperformance, there was an expectation for an adjustment in car parity, but Supercars confirmed that no changes would be made ahead of the upcoming Christchurch race.
Ryan openly expressed his doubts regarding whether the Chevrolet drivers deserved such adjustments, stating honestly that the talent pool lacks “A-grade” drivers capable of winning consistently. His comments were particularly pointed towards his own team drivers, Cooper Murray and Jobe Stewart, who sit at the bottom of the drivers’ standings, with their team also holding the last place in the overall championship.
The situation for Chevrolet was exacerbated by the loss of established drivers like Will Brown, who moved to Ford, and Brodie Kostecki, the previous champion who joined Dick Johnson Racing. As a result, Chevrolet now lacks any former champions in its roster.
Amidst these challenges, GM has approached several drivers, including Bathurst 1000 champion Matt Payne, to entice them into the Chevrolet fold. Ryan noted that pre-season wind tunnel testing led to modifications on the Camaro to match its performance with the new Toyota Supra and Ford Mustang. However, he feels these modifications did not go far enough and resulted in a loss of useful setup data from the previous two seasons.
He argued that the changes disproportionately affected the car’s balance, leading to diminished speed after just a few laps. Ryan’s frustrations were clear as he insisted on reverting the changes to allow for a more competitive setup.
Looking ahead, the Supercars series will make its first appearance at the Ruapuna circuit near Christchurch, with racing set to commence on Friday—an earlier start than initially planned to compensate for the previous weekend’s missed events in Taupo. The Erebus team and Chevrolet drivers hope for an opportunity to turn the season around with this upcoming race.