MOTORSPORT: New Ford Mustang racing to be ready for Gen3 Supercars

With the latest generation of the Ford Mustang set for its world debut on September 14, the race is now on to prepare the all-new pony car for the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship’s new Gen3 technical ruleset.

Unveiled alongside the Camaro ZL1 late last year, the current S550-shape Mustang GT that has been logging testing miles around the country is likely to never see the starting grid in anger, with the new-look S650 version slated to be Ford’s weapon of choice in its fight against the Camaro from next year.

Ford Performance teased its new-generation Mustang GT3 racer in January, but is yet to indicate when and where it will launch its new-look Supercars racer.

However, a clear candidate would be the Repco Bathurst 1000, which is set for October 6-9, making it the first event scheduled after the reveal of the new Mustang.

With a fluid Supercars calendar now seemingly locked in place, the 2022 season will be rounded out with key events on the Gold Coast (October 28-30) and the return of the Adelaide 500 (December 1-4).

Looking ahead to 2023, it has been proposed that the new generation of competition will kick off from March 10-12 on the streets of Newcastle.

Ford Performance may also look to launch the platform alongside other new generation Mustang racers, with the model also used in both top tiers of NASCAR competition, while it was also announced in January that the car will be produced in GT3 configuration for the first time, with a debut set for 2024.

Back in June, Toowoomba’s Wellcamp Airport played host to preliminary straight-line aerodynamic testing duties for the current cars, which were used to calibrate systems and correlate data against the existing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations.

The final Vehicle Control Aerodynamic Testing, or VCAT, will be carried out before the end of this year with the new Ford shape needing to be finalised by that outing.

Meanwhile, this weekend will see the Gen3 platform hit the track at South Australia’s The Bend Motorsport Park, with Friday running to be complemented by an extended session on Monday.

The core focus of the latest round of testing will be to validate the spec oil system of the platform, with the circuit’s challenging turn 7-10 sequence of sweeping right-hand corners placing added emphasis on the car’s lubricant delivery.

The Bend is the seventh different circuit the Gen3 cars have tested at since being launched at Bathurst last year.

The latest round of running comes after an extended session at Queensland Raceway, which was used to validate the credentials of the driveline, while the earlier Townsville event saw the cars put to the test over that venue’s aggressive sequence of kerbs.

Interestingly, Chaz Mostert was one of the drivers to hit the track in the Mustang at the QR test, marking his first drive of the new car, with his Walkinshaw Andretti United team announcing in May that they will be switching to the Blue Oval for next season.

Coming into this weekend, Ford has won 10 of the thirteen races contested to date at The Bend since it was commissioned in 2018, with Red Bull Ampol Racing driver Shane van Gisbergen looking to hit back for Holden and add to his 10 wins already registered to date in 2022.

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