MOTORSPORT: Ford Mustang Supercar is go

The 'Mutant' Ford Mustang Supercar has officially been approved for competition in 2019.

While fans have delivered the bulbous looks of the Mustang a thumbs down, the green light to go racing was formally today delivered by the Supercars Commission which oversees technical and racing issues relating to the category.

The approval follows on from aerodynamic parity testing against Holden Commodore ZB and Nissan Altima conducted at Temora airstrip in southern New South Wales last week and the sign-off from the three homologation teams.

The three models were subject to a program of runway testing which measures aerodynamics and downforce. Aerodynamic components of the Mustang are then adjusted to equalise it to the two incumbent models.

The sign-off means Ford teams DJR Team Penske and Tickford Racing can now go ahead and complete the build of six Mustangs that will be raced out of their workshops in 2019, beginning with the Adelaide 500.

“This is the final step in seeing the iconic Ford Mustang back on Australian race circuits, and we can’t wait to see it in its full glory at the Adelaide 500 next year,” said Supercars CEO Sean Seamer said.

Newly-crowned Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard will drive for DJRTP, while Chaz Mostert, Cameron Waters and Will Davison will be based at Tickford, the latter driving for customer team 23Red Racing.

The seat in the fourth Tickford driver has yet to be filled following rookie Richie Stanaway’s departure after a single season. Lee Holdsworth, Jack Le Brocq, Andre Heimgartner and Michael Caruso have all been linked to the drive.

The Mustang replaces the Ford Falcon FG/X in Supercars. It is the first two-door to race in the series. Previous generations were raced under different technical regualtions by luminaries such as Dick Johnson, Pete Geoghegan and Allan Moffat.

Development of the Supercars Mustang has been led by DJR Team Penske in Queensland in co-operation with Ford Performance in the USA, Tickford Racing in Melbourne and Ford’s Melbourne design office.

Speaking before the testing sign-off, DJR TP managing director Ryan Story played down the amount of technical improvement the Mustang would deliver even with its massive rear wing endplates.

“Mustang’s been designed to be an evolutionary improvement on the FG/X and hopefully we’d like to bridge the gap on the drag number in particular, because we felt that was an area that was particularly strong on the Commodore,” Story said.

“Look, we won a championship in 2018; we are only looking for very small incremental improvements in efficiencies in the car that we are racing in order to be more competitive in order to have both cars right up the front where we want them to be.”

The racing versions odd looks have been forced by the need to adapt it to the official Supercars control chassis. That meant raising the roof to fit over the rollcage and narrowing the body to fit the track. The nose has also been lowered.

“I think we have a very passionate fane bas and there is a huge amount of excitement about Mustang returning to Supercars,” Story said. “With that comes expectation of it being the hero car that everyone intends.

“We have had to make a couple of compromises as a consequence of the control chassis, but let me tell you this thing in Shell V-Power colours looks the goods. It’s got the grille, it’s got the headlights, it’s got the bulbous rear of the [road] car, it’s got the same silhouette shape of the glasshouse that the road car has.

“It has more in common than not with the road car.”