Erebus boss says GM lacks 'A-grade' drivers, against pre-season changes
Erebus Motorsport boss against pre-season Camaro changes
Erebus CEO says GM "haven't got any A-grade drivers" versus rivals
62% of the Camaros have a rookie driver, compared to 36% of Mustangs
Erebus Motorsport CEO Barry Ryan concedes General Motors "haven't got any A-grade drivers," while insisting pre-season changes shouldn’t have been made to the Camaro.
Ford has seven wins through nine races and three rounds across Dick Johnson Racing and former GM powerhouse Triple Eight Race Engineering, with Chevrolet and 2026 debutant Toyota on one win apiece.
The new Toyota Supra, which won Saturday’s Taupō finale, hit the trigger under the new parity review system. However, following an investigation, Supercars confirmed there will be no change to the Toyota following Monday’s analysis and investigation.
Supercars is centred on technical parity, but the current driver numbers are stacked in Ford’s favour — 62% of the Camaros on the grid have a rookie driver, compared to only 36% of the Mustangs.
When asked on MotorRacing 360 if GM deserves a parity adjustment, Ryan said "probably not," declaring that the Camaro camp doesn’t have the driving firepower to get the job done.
"At the end of the day, I'll be totally honest, we haven't got any A-grade drivers. Some of the drivers won’t like hearing that, but they're not A-grade drivers. We haven't got multiple winners in our GM camp," said Ryan, whose team isn’t operating out of the ’Team Chevy’ alliance.
“We're outside the GM camp at the moment when that's our choice. Betty [Klimenko, Erebus owner] and I are proud of our independence as Erebus and we've been really reasonably successful doing it.
“We know we are not ready to win yet. So give us 12 months and if GM teams are winning and we're still 20th, well, we're doing something wrong.
“But we've got to be the first GM first. That's the main thing we want to try and do. And if we get to there and we can still only come 12th, well there's probably something wrong.”
It comes after Ford driver Will Brown also voiced his concern against changes to the Camaro, saying: “You can’t just give GM a leg-up because the teams or the drivers aren’t doing as good of a job right now."
Ryan believes GM shouldn’t have agreed to pre-season balance changes instead, adding: “It’s a difficult one. Unfortunately, GM allowed a change in the off-season, which shouldn’t have happened.
"We were the incumbent manufacturer. We shouldn't have had a change. I tried to argue it, but it didn't matter. For some reason we shifted the balance 3% to the front.
“We've got a couple rookie drivers, and particularly Jobe, none of our set-ups work anymore, so we are trying to get us set up that we can work that he can deal with, as well as being a rookie.
“Not making excuses, but we should have never changed the balance. And unfortunately they changed it. We're stuck with what we've got at the moment.
“No one's asking for more downforce. We're just asking for a shift back so we can balance the car up again.”
On paper, with Triple Eight now with Ford, Erebus is the most decorated of the current GM teams. Only Triple Eight has won more races in the Gen3 era than Erebus, which won the championship double in 2023, and the 2024 Bathurst 1000.
With car balance shifting, Erebus entered 2026 with a rookie driver in Jobe Stewart, alongside second year driver Cooper Murray. Ryan suggested the changes have been to his team’s detriment, suggesting previous set-ups couldn’t be carried over into 2026.
"We don't want an advantage, we just want a balance shift,” Ryan said.
"GM teams need to realise that they probably haven't got the best drivers, and none of the teams have got the runs on the board probably apart from us, and we're the ones that know our drivers aren't ready yet.
"Cooper's a great young driver and he's got some experience now, but he's still is trying to lead the team now and show Jone what to do. If he can't feel what the car needs, it's hard for Jobe to actually know.
“We were hoping to come into this year with proven set-ups from last year that we could just teach him how to drive it and teach him all the renaissance of being a Supercar driver.
"But now we're trying to develop a car as well — I don't want to whinge about parity — the drivers try too hard, the team tries too hard, you think outside the square where you shouldn't be.
"And yeah, it's part of motor racing, but unfortunately we made a change we shouldn’t have made, and it's hurting us.”
Track action will commence in Christchurch on Friday. Tickets are on sale now.
