Kassulke is arguably one of the most experienced Mustang Cup drivers already, having raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans invitational event as well as cutting test laps at Queensland Raceway.

Kassulke is a well-known name in Australia, having raced regularly in Touring Car Masters and a variety of other cars locally.

He is just the second driver confirmed for the new series that will form part of the SRO Motorsports Australia-promoted Shannons SpeedSeries undercard in 2026.

“The Mustang Cup Australia is going to be entirely different to what I’ve raced before, but I’m very excited to join,” said Kassulke.

“I thought I’d give it a shot in Australia after racing at Le Mans and I think it will take off like it’s anticipated it should.

“I think the way the category has been set up, it’s going to be good for all drivers whether they’re young guys coming up or the gentlemen just wanting to race, which I think there might be quite a few of the latter.”

Kassulked said he was wowed by the Mustang Dark Horse R platform that the series will use as its base.

“I was surprised after I cut some laps at Queensland Raceway and even more so at Le Mans, it’s just a fabulous car to race,” he said.

“The Dark Horse R has its own quirkiness in some respects, but it’s quick, easy to drive and to manage, so I’m looking forward to racing it again.

“It’s a very user-friendly package. I’m an amateur racer as can be viewed by my previous experience and it’s a very easy car to race.

“We’ll have good backing from Ford Racing on all aspects including maintenance, spare parts, engineers and so forth, which makes it a very attractive series when it’s got all those thrown in.

“While racing at Le Mans, we were racing side-by-side with Ford CEO Jim Farley, so that’s a huge statement of intent and it was quite special to share the track with him.

“He’s absolutely committed to Ford’s product in racing and it’s a great thing.”

Phillip Island will host the season-opening Mustang Cup Australia round as part of the SRO Motorsports Australia-promoted Shannons SpeedSeries on March 27-29.

Factory Ford deal awaits Australia’s best Mustang Cup driver