The recent announcement from Ford Australia that the current Ford running Supercars teams (Tickford Racing, DJR Team Penske, 23Red Racing, and Matt Stone Racing) will race Mustangs in the 2019 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship has been welcomed by drivers, teams and fans. It is a significant move for Supercars that will forever change their brand and may eventually herald in a new Australasian GT series. It is also a time for Ford to step up and commit and not come and go as history has shown.
Manufacturers typically come and go in motorsport as boardroom politics dictate their marketing strategies and then eventually find out the real costs involved in going motor racing.
Ford have a history of this in many of the top motorsport categories. An example is with the privately owned M-Sport Ford World Rally Team that now has increased (Ford) factory support for 2018 after an absence of six years. Was it Sebastien Ogier winning the 2017 driver’s title in a Ford that prompted this?
The Blue Oval withdrew its support from Supercars racing following the homologation of the Ford Falcon FG X in late 2014. Now with their return it is difficult to know how they will actually be involved other than supplying body panels. The current Car of the Future underlying Supercars chassis will remain, as will the current 5.0 litre Ford V8 engine.
What also hasn’t been discussed in the Supercars announcement is where the brand will go in the future.
The previous Falcon and Commodore models are no longer manufactured in Australia. To combat this, Supercars drew in other marques and we saw Mercedes and Volvo come and go while Nissan Motorsport is still committed to the category.
The Ford Mustang is a two-door sports car while the current Supercars Holden ZB Commodore is really a four-door sedan.
Nissan may well look to the future of their Supercars involvement with the GT-R sports car model. Other manufacturers will no doubt be reviewing what models and involvement they will take.
Ford have jumped ahead of their opposition and will make the most of the marketing opportunities of the Supercars announcement and leverage it as much as possible. It is a brilliant move for the brand and for Ford Supercars fans that is in no doubt a ‘game-changer’.
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