The Blue Oval will return to its roots by dropping Ford Performance in favour of its traditional Ford Racing branding for all factory motorsport programs around the world.

Ford Performance was established in 2015 when Ford Racing, Ford Team RS and Special Vehicle Team were combined into a single hybrid motorsport/performance car brand.

That model will continue under this return to the Ford Racing banner with the branding set to cover both motorsport and its sporty road-going cars and four-wheel-drives.

On the motorsport front it is a global exercise that will include everything from Supercars and NASCAR, to the upcoming Formula 1 collaboration with Red Bull Racing, to the much-anticipated hypercar and return to Le Mans, and the WRC and Dakar programs.

The switch won’t be immediate, though, with the Mustang Supercars set to carry Ford Performance branding for the remainder of this season before switching to Ford Racing in 2026.

Ford Racing will continue to be led by global director Mark Rushbrook and general manager Will Ford.

In a blog post announcing the news, Will Ford wrote: “This is not a marketing exercise. This is a promise. It signals a new, more focused mission to tear down the wall between our race teams and the engineering of the vehicles you drive every day on and off road.

“Under one global Ford Racing banner, our engineers and designers will develop our performance road cars right alongside our race cars. The technology that survives the Baja 1000 will be in the DNA of the next F-150 Raptor. The aerodynamic lessons we learn at Daytona and Le Mans will be sculpted into the body of the next Mustang.

“This is a direct line from the track to your driveway, and it starts now. The first production vehicle born from this new Ford Racing mindset will debut this January.”

He continued: “Starting today, you will see our new identity roll out. The full force of Ford Racing will be unleashed in January when we kick off the new season at the Dakar Rally, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and our own Season Launch event.

“Make no mistake: We are competing at the highest levels across the globe – from Formula 1 to the World Rally Championship, from Le Mans to Bathurst.

“And we are going there with a single purpose.

“We don’t just go to races. We go to win.”

There will be 10 Ford Racing Mustangs on the Supercars grid next year – two each from Triple Eight, Dick Johnson Racing, Tickford Racing, Grove Racing and Blanchard Racing Team.