Marcus Zukanovic has hailed the performance of his Touring Car Masters XD Falcon after shaking the Ford down at Winton yesterday.

Zukanovic’s will be the first fully series-compliant XD on the grid in just over a week’s time at Sandown, where he will be joined by fellow Paynter Dixon Touring Car Masters debutant Damien Gambold in another XD.

The project, spearheaded by Marcus and father Mick, has been in the works since the latter half of 2017 with the car’s first racing outing twice delayed as the family Action Racing squad worked on the intricacies of the build.

In a social media post, Zukanovic wrote that the car is still a work in progress but was nevertheless ecstatic with how it performed.

“WOW What a car, what a machine!!!” the post read in part.

“These TCM cars are quite surprising actually are very decent race cars and super fun to drive. Anything with big horsepower and small tyres is always going to be fun.

“Balance of the car was surprising stable. Car looks big and bulky but the XD is quite nimble.

“Drive off the corner was good. Braking stability needs a touch of work, and Just need to get the front of the car on the same page as the rear for a balance improvement.

“The XD outperformed our every expectation; we are so happy with car and how the day went.

“It’s a huge testament to the small team from Melbourne’s west, especially my old man! Mick is the heart, soul and drive behind this incredible beast!”

Round 6 of Touring Car Masters supports the Rabble.Club Sandown 500 on September 14-16.

VIDEO: XD drive-by at Winton