Stone Brothers Racing co-owner Ross Stone is adamant that his team will continue to run Ford Falcons in the V8 Supercars Championship when the Car of the Future regulations are introduced in 2013.
The three-time championship winning squad’s manufacturer allegiance has been the subject of recurrent speculation this year – a situation that has frustrated Stone.
The rumours have been fuelled by the fact that Ford remains yet to determine whether it will have funding available to extend its sponsorship of SBR into the new season.
While V8 Supercars continues to engage potential manufacturers in discussions about joining the class, Stone says that his squad is committed to running Falcons regardless of Ford’s final decision.
“I don’t know where these rumours come from because I can tell you that we’ve never spoken to any manufacturer other than Ford,” Stone told Speedcafe.com.
“We’re completely committed to running Falcons in the championship next year, and as I speak we’re busily building our cars and planning for when our first one will hit the track.
“In terms of sponsorship, all I can say is that we’re continuing to negotiate with Ford on extending a relationship that has been in place since the start of SBR.”
SBR currently has its first COTF chassis in pre-assembly stage, and hopes to begin track testing sometime during September.
Work is already underway on its second and third cars, with a spare chassis also expected to be readied prior to next year’s season-opener in Adelaide.
While the process of nailing down the COTF’s rule package has caused the teams plenty of headaches this year, Stone says he’s pleased with recent developments.
“It’s an enormous project obviously, but recently there’s been a lot of progress on the rule package and getting the cars built and running,” said Stone of the COTF.
“We’ve really got everything we need to work with so now it’s just ‘heads down’ for us to get the cars ready.
“I’m sure there will continue to be some issues to work through over the next few months, but it’s all very positive at the moment.”
CLICK HERE for an insight into each team’s COTF build program
