MOTORSPORT: Ford Mustang Supercar unveiled

The Ford Mustang Supercar has been revealed again and this time without camouflage.

But don’t expect to see this example wrapped in the colours of the Blue Oval’s hot tuner for road and track, Ford Performance, lining up on the grid at Superloop Adelaide 500 championship opener in a few weeks.

Yes it will be in Adelaide and yes it will be on-track, but only to perform promotional duties to celebrate Ford’s official return to the Supercars championship with the Mustang after a three-year absence and the launch of the Ford Performance brand in Australia.

As we reported earlier this year, Adelaide is also the start of an ongoing marketing campaign to support Ford Performance vehicles including the Ranger Raptor as well as the Mustang. Those plans include a series of limited-edition versions of the iconic two-door.

Ford isn’t saying just what functions the Mustang will perform, but it’ a good bet there will be some form of demo. At Bathurst last year Ford had a Mustang GT4, Falcon FG X Supercar and GT sports car participate in a speed comparison. Just saying…

You can bet there will be a phalanx of Ford executives on-hand from here and overseas to witness the debut of the Mustang, which replaces the homegrown Falcon and is the first coupe to race in the Supercar championship since it adopted its current V8 structure in 1993 (yes there were still BMW M3s running around in 1993, but you know what we mean!).

“This is an historic moment,” Kay Hart, President and CEO of Ford Australia and New Zealand, said in a statement.

“To see the project come together has been incredibly exciting for everyone involved, and today marks the start of Mustang’s 2019 season. Mustang belongs on the track and everyone at Ford and our fans have been waiting for this moment.”

This livery was developed by Ford’s Asia-Pacific Melbourne studio, which also played a key role in resolving the shape of the controversial ‘Mutant’ Mustang racer along with Ford Performance in the USA and local Supercars homologation team, DJR Team Penske.

The car being shown off in Ford Performance colours has actually been seen before as it’s the first Mustang built by DJRTP and was used for private and official homologation testing. Late last year it was wrapped in a predominantly blue ‘Mustang’ livery that the team now believes accentuated criticism of the racer’s look.

Note with this version how much deeper into the front windscreen the banner and tinting stretches. That’s designed to hide the control-specification rollcage, which is responsible for the bulbous roofline.

This car shows off the finalised aerodynamic package for the Mustang, including the rear deck extension, which fulfils the same task as the Falcon sedan’s boot in terms of delivering less turbulent air to the rear wing.

Now that Ford has rolled out this car, DJRTP and fellow Ford team Tickford Racing will start to reveal the liveries of their racing cars.

DJRTP, the home of the defending Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin and his teammate Fabian Coulthard, will unveil their Shell V-Power-backed entries in Melbourne next Monday.

“Heading to Adelaide as Supercars Champion is pretty cool, and being able to defend my title in the new Ford Mustang as it returns to touring car racing in Australia is very exciting for me, for the team, and everyone involved. I think we’ve got a weapon on our hands,” said McLaughlin in a Ford press release.

The other four Mustangs we will see are the Tickford entries for Chaz Mostert (Supercheap Auto), Cameron Waters (Monster Energy) and new signing Lee Holdsworth (The Bottle-O). Will Davison’s Milwaukee Tools Mustang will also run out of Tickford in 2019 as a customer entry.

All the Mustangs will participate in a test at Phillip Island on February 14 along with the rest of the 24-car field, which includes 14 Holden ZB Commodores and four Nissan Altimas, the latter in their last year of competition at this level.

So what do you think? Does the Mustang Supercar still look like a Mustang? Is it good looking? Comments below please.