Matt Stone Racing will not make a long-touted switch to Ford for Supercars’ Gen3 era, Speedcafe.com can reveal.
Walkinshaw Andretti United’s defection to the Blue Oval was announced yesterday afternoon, making for five Ford squads next year.
WAU will join Dick Johnson Racing, Tickford Racing, Grove Racing and the Blanchard Racing Team in fielding Mustangs in the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship.
Matt Stone Racing, currently a Triple Eight Race Engineering customer team, has long made it known that it’s been assessing a change of brands.
However, it appears that is now off the table, with Ford happy with supporting the aforementioned quintet and not adding beyond that.
“That’s our book full for 2023,” a Ford spokesperson confirmed to Speedcafe.com.
“We have a clear strategy around our teams and partners in Supercars, and we’re about quality over quantity.
“We’re here to win, not to make up the numbers.”
On the presumption that the status quo remains with the existing Teams Racing Charters – that is, that the same 11 teams are responsible for the same 25 cars next year – that locks the grid in at 11 Ford Mustangs and 14 Chevrolet Camaros.
Those that have either officially or unofficially confirmed themselves as a Camaro squad next year include Erebus Motorsport, Team 18, Brad Jones Racing, PremiAir Racing, and homologation outfit Triple Eight Race Engineering.
The Stone family name is famously aligned with Fords, Stone Brothers Racing running Falcons throughout a 15-year period in which it won the Bathurst 1000 on debut in 1998, and three consecutive championships from 2003-05.
However, unless it can pull off an unlikely coup with a new third manufacturer on short notice, MSR appears set to remain on the General Motors side of the divide.
Despite WAU ultimately opting not to partner with a new marque, one of its three directors, Ryan Walkinshaw, believes there’s enough market interest to ensure Supercars does not remain a two-brand series forever.
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