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Dick Johnson has completed three laps around Mount Panorama, Bathurst, in the global track debut of the Gen3 Ford Mustang.
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The vehicle demonstration showed off the new S650 Mustang, which was revealed in road car trim at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last month.
“It was quite surprising actually,” the three-time Bathurst winner told Speedcafe.com.
“It was amazing. That’s the first time it’s turned a wheel, so the boys have done a magnificent job to have the car set, for us to get out there and get into it.”
The demonstration is another of Johnson’s debutant drives since the Mustang replaced the Falcon in Supercars competition in 2019.
Johnson was the first to drive the current Mustang Supercar at a race meeting – following tests by DJR, which is the homologation team for both the outgoing Mustang and the 2023 Gen3 Mustang – which saw him lap the Adelaide Street Circuit ahead of the 2019 Adelaide 500.
“Well obviously these are better tyres than what we used in the Mustangs at Adelaide,” Johnson said.
“The biggest thing was just how much grip it had and how stable it was – and the brakes were just amazing, cause I’m used to the Old School.
“I never exploited any of it to be quite honest – and the brakes and that, of course, once there I hit the brake and accelerator at the same time – obviously for me the pedals would have to be a little different, but it was fantastic.”
Ford’s Gen 3 Mustang had been demonstrated using the current S550 Mustang road car’s body, with Johnson’s drive the first for the new S650 bodywork that the Ford will use in 2023, as Speedcafe.com reported in December 2021.
Significantly, the Supercars track laps were carried out ahead of its S650 NASCAR and GT3 counterparts that Ford Performance will campaign overseas.
The introduction of the Gen3 Mustang and rival Chevrolet Camaro has been delayed for a variety of reasons, with cost blowouts and delays meaning testing for teams beyond the two homologation teams – DJR for Mustang and Triple Eight Race Engineering for the Camaro – likely won’t happen until early 2023, only weeks ahead of the Adelaide opening round.
While most famous for his wins in both Ford Falcons and Sierras, Johnson campaigned Ford Mustangs in 1985 and ’86 seasons as the series switched from Group C regulations to international Group A rules.
Johnson won Bathurst in Group C (1981), Group A (1989) and preceding regulations that were introduced in 1993.
His last Great Race win was in 1994, co-driving with John Bowe who he also won with in 1989.
His first Bathurst win was in 1981 in the now iconic Tru-Blu XD Falcon, 12 months after the now legendary ‘rock’ incident that saw him crash out of the race while leading on Lap 17.
This weekend, DJR celebrates its 1000th race in Supercars, with DJR drivers Will Davison/Alex Davison in Car #17 and Anton DePasquale/Tony D’Alberto in Car #100 running a retro-livery from Bathurst 1998.
