Everyone loves touring cars, don't they? And arguably there's no better touring car series in the world than Australia's Supercars championship, with 500hp tin tops racing on some stunning circuits. Some will say it isn't what is used to be, but then name a similar series that is.
Today the Supercars series has been bolstered by the return of Ford as a fully fledged manufacturer. Better than that, it's using a Mustang to do so, replacing various versions of Falcon that have seen service for the past quarter of a century. And even better than that, it will continue to use a V8 because, in Ford's own words, it was "probably the most competitive and reliable way". Jolly good!
Ford hasn't officially supported Supercars since 2014, when the current FG X generation of Falcon was homologated (and which privateer teams continue to campaign). With the Gen2 rules for Supercars now in place, two-door cars are eligible, and so Ford decided to race the Mustang rather than the Australian Mondeo. The motorsport return is a collaborative effort between DJR Team Penske, Tickford Racing and Ford Performance in Australia, with some input from America too.
The main focus on Mustang development will be in aerodynamics, given the championship runs a control chassis. This probably helped tip the decision in the Mustang's favour over the Mondeo, too.
Ryan Story, MD of DJR Team Penske, said the team has a "very good" understanding of getting that body over the control chassis, but has admitted "We've got a heck of a lot of work to do ahead of us, and we're hoping we can meet the standard deadlines and timetables you see for homologating new vehicles." Supercars legend Dick Johnson is still involved with the team, too, and added, "Throughout the entire history of this team, we've never run anything but a Ford, and this announcement today is fantastic." Don't expect to see him back behind the wheel, however...
While Australian touring cars may seem a world away from our BTCC, perhaps the best news to take from this is a sustained commitment from Ford to motorsport. Finally, if you're a bit cynical about control chassis touring cars, watch the highlights from Adelaide below - it's still pretty good!
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