Ford brings back the Mustang to Supercars

Just three years after pulling the pin on its local motorsport program, Ford Australia is back in the Supercars game – and it’s bringing back an old friend.

The company announced today that it will help get the sixth-generation Mustang onto the Supercars grid for 2019, relegating its still-successful Falcon FG-X to Supercars history.

It will be the first factory-endorsed Mustang to run in Australia’s top-tier touring car championship in 33 years. Legendary names like Allan Moffat and Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan put the Mustang on the map for the company in the 1960s and '70s, while Dick Johnson last ran a Mustang in 1986.

“We’ve been working with the teams to ensure they have the best technical support to make Mustang a winner,” said Ford Australia boss Graeme Whickman at a launch event for the Ford Performance brand in Melbourne. “We can’t wait to see it on the grid in 2019.”

The Mustang Supercars program will be overseen by the company’s global performance operation, Ford Performance, which has also been launched in Australia and New Zealand as an official brand.

The build will be executed by Ford’s two strongest Supercars teams, DJR Team Penske and Tickford Racing.

Under former Ford Australia CEO Bob Graziano, the Blue Oval walked away from Australia’s premier touring car category at the end of 2015 – ironically with a championship title to its name, thanks to Mark Winterbottom and the then-Prodrive Racing Team.

It seemed, too, after years of whittling back its involvement in the series, that there was little hope of the company ever returning to domestic motorsport in any meaningful way, especially after the demise of its local manufacturing arm in October 2016.

The Mustang will be the first ever two-door racer in the Supercars era and will be powered by a 5.0-litre Ford Racing V8.

However, the arrival - and subsequent success - of US motor racing magnate Roger Penske, along with the runaway success of the Mustang sports car in the sales charts, has seen a change of heart in Broadmeadows.

“We have racing in our DNA and we have performance in our DNA,” said Mr Whickman. “We need to make sure that extends itself into the vehicles we sell and are going to sell in the future.”

Ford Australia’s level of support will extend to supplying technical assistance and licensing agreements to run the Mustang locally, rather than financial input in either team.

Queensland’s DJR Team Penske, along with Victorian-based former Ford factory outfit Tickford Racing, are still campaigning the FG-X, almost two years after the car ceased production locally, and both outfits will be tasked with developing the Mustang to suit Supercars’ so-called Gen2 regulations.

The build will be executed by Ford’s two strongest Supercars teams, DJR Team Penske and Tickford Racing.

“We’re in partnership,” said Mr Whickman, who declined to specify how long the deal would extend for. “We didn’t completely get out of the sport – we have been offering support to our teams over the last couple of years in many ways.”

Both racing outfits are understood to have already undertaken exploratory mechanical and aerodynamic research on the Mustang, which will require significant body modifications to fit over the control Supercars platform.

The Mustang – which will be the first ever two-door racer in the Supercars era - will also need to comply with Supercars’ parity formula that’s designed to level the playing field between it, the Holden Commodore ZB and Nissan’s Altima.

It’ll be powered by the same 5.0-litre Ford Racing V8 that propels the FG-X, with Ford ruling out a switch to any other form of powerplant in the foreseeable future, despite Ford Performance running a 3.5-litre twin-turbocharged V6 engine its its GT GT3 program.

“As racers, we just wanted to focus on one change for 2019. Next year is about the Mustang,” said Tickford Racing team principal Tim Edwards.

It will be the first factory-endorsed Mustang to run in Australia’s top-tier touring car championship in 33 years.

Earlier this month, Holden turned off the two-year old funding tap on its own troubled twin-turbo V6 development program, run by the company’s anointed factory outfit, Triple Eight Racing.

At this stage, expect to see up to eight Mustangs on the grid for the Adelaide 500 next March. DJR Team Penske currently runs two Fords, while Tickford Racing fields four entries.

Rookie privateer teams 23Red Racing and Matt Stone Racing also run a single Falcon each, and both outfits have indicated they will switch to Mustangs for 2019.

Teams are required to hold a Racing Entitlement Contract (REC) for every entry they field, and there are only 26 in play at present.

There are several teams that could theoretically switch allegiances for 2019, but the big issue is money. Switching to Mustangs not only entails the build of two $350,000-plus cars, but stocks of engines, body panels and other ancillaries would also need to be sourced.

Since Ford pulled the pin on its Supercars program, the category has also seen the arrival and departure of a factory Volvo effort and a privateer Mercedes-Benz. Nissan Australia still backs a four-car racing effort via Kelly Racing, though its participation post-2018 is still in question.

Holden, meanwhile, has the greatest presence on the Supercars grid, with 14 cars in the current 26-strong field.

Does Ford's decision to run the Mustang in 2019 fire up your enthusiasm for Supercars? Tell us what you think in the comments below.