Ford Performance chief Mark Rushbrook says the brand’s commitment to categories such as Supercars is dependent on the “opportunity to win”.
The Blue Oval has been on the wrong end of an 11-1 scoreline with respect to race wins so far in the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship, the first of the Gen3 era, and even that sole victory was due to the disqualification of both Triple Eight Race Engineering Camaros.
Even after being stripped of 288 points that day, and giving a handful to each of their rivals, Triple Eight is currently second in the teams’ championship to fellow Chevrolet outfit Erebus Motorsport.
Rushbrook is not willing to necessarily venture that there is a technical disparity between the Mustang and Camaro, nor did he issue an explicit threat about pulling out of Supercars.
However, speaking to selected media, including Speedcafe, ahead of Ford’s Finke Desert Race campaign, he certainly did not rule that out either.
“What I will say is that, anywhere we race, we race for the same reasons, and that is to win races and championships that matter,” said Rushbrook.
“We need to have that opportunity to win because it’s important to our brand. If we’re not able to win – if we don’t have the opportunity to win – it has the risk of tarnishing our brand.
“We need to be in a racing series where there’s an opportunity for innovation and tech transfer, we need to race where we have the opportunity to market our product appropriately – tied back to winning, of course – and to provide employee pride and satisfaction.
“So, as we very regularly review – inside our company, with the leaders of our company, to the very top – we are assessing all of the series for all of those important pillars for us.
“Where we meet those pillars, we will continue and we will be very strong in our presence.
“If we’re not meeting some of those pillars, then that’s a consideration for us as we look at our future racing motorsport cycle plan.”
Ford Performance resources back at head office in the United States were drawn upon for the development of both the Gen2 Mustang, which represented its return to official involvement in the Supercars category from 2019, and its Gen3 successor.
There are currently 11 Mustangs on the Supercars Championship grid on a full-time basis, fielded by homologation team Dick Johnson Racing, Walkinshaw Andretti United, Tickford Racing, Grove Racing, and the Blanchard Racing Team.
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