√Ford motorsport boss weighing up V8 Supercars future

The global boss of Ford motorsport says its V8 Supercar campaign in Australia is under review, amid concerns about the sport’s ability to close the gap between the rules governing the two main rivals, Ford and Chevrolet.

The global boss of Ford says the US car giant is reviewing its participation in the Australian V8 Supercar championship after becoming “frustrated” with the time it has taken series organisers to level the playing field between the top two contenders, Ford and Chevrolet.

Ford is the only car company left offering significant multi-team, factory-backed support in V8 Supercars after Holden left Australia at the end of 2020.

However, the new rules better suit the characteristics of the Chevrolet Camaro and disadvantage the Ford Mustang.

Since the new V8 Supercar rules came into force at the start of this year, a Ford Mustang has only greeted the chequered flag in first place once out of the 19 races so far. The Ford Mustang’s only other win this year came after a Chevrolet Camaro was disqualified.

And the Ford Mustang has also only qualified fastest only five times so far this season.

While V8 Supercar organisers have made changes to try to bring the two cars closer together, the global boss of Ford, Mark Rushbrook, told Australian media in the US last week he is “frustrated” by the time it is taking – and says more needs to be done.

When asked if he was frustrated by the slow pace of progress, the top Ford motorsport executive said: “Am I frustrated with Supercars? Yes. Do we evaluate our future in Supercars? We evaluate our future in every series on a very regular basis and we look for the ability to win races and championships.”

While Ford is not ready to pack up just yet, the executive said: “Any decision for any series, whether to join or to leave, is a difficult decision because we don’t want to be coming and going in different series.

“What I will say about Supercars is … I said I am frustrated. But they are starting to make the changes. I wish they would’ve done it before the season started, but they are making changes now to try and improve the situation.

“Supercars have certainly recognised … they need to update their processes and they are active.”

Ford says other motorsport series such as NASCAR in the US are more transparent when comparing the strengths and weaknesses of rival teams and cars, but V8 Supercars is a closed book.

“There are certainly still … things that aren’t happening that we see in other series that I’ve been very open about,” said Mr Rushbrook.

“The transparency of data that I can sit here in this building or I can sit on my couch at home and I can see what every car on a NASCAR track is doing … on every single lap. I can’t see that in Supercars.

“Without that transparency of data, it is very difficult for us as a manufacturer or for our teams … to truly understand what the differences are in the cars between the Chevy and the Ford on track, to know what changes to make within the parameters or restrictions of Supercars. It’s like a guessing game in many situations, but if the data was there it’d be different.”

When asked if Ford would support a move to bring NASCAR to Australia, or for V8 Supercars to switch to NASCAR rules – which would link Australia to the world’s biggest racing series outside of Formula One, and enable ‘Wild Card’ drivers from the US and vice-versa – Mr Rushbrook said:

“I think efficiency for us as a manufacturer … always make sense, and if you’re able to share parts, systems, vehicles between different series, it makes sense.

“In the sports-car world, that is what is making so much sense right now. As a manufacturer, you don’t have to make a decision to invest in one (racing series) or the other. Now there’s a convergence of GT3 you can race in IMSA, GT Pro and you can do customer racing around the world with the exact same car.”

Now that NASCAR and V8 Supercar powertrain layouts are closer than they have ever been, Mr Rushbrook said: “I fully encourage NASCAR to talk to Supercars Australia and Supercars Australia to talk to NASCAR.”

The executive noted the cars are “similar but different” however linking the two categories would reduce costs for race teams and increase the opportunity for international competition.

When asked if it still made sense for Ford to stay in V8 Supercars even though the vehicles are unique compared to other racing categories around the world, Mr Rushbrook said: “I think it can make sense. If we didn’t think it could make sense, we wouldn’t have pursued the development of the (Generation Three V8 Supercar) car to race there.

“The race against Ford versus Chevy in Australia is still a great opportunity, but where it’s proven to maybe not be the opportunity we thought it was … the parity process worked with the (previous generation race cars) when it was between Ford and Holden (which had) the same engine architecture and same displacement.

“However the parity tools (for Generation Three V8 Supercars) did not advance to … allow different engine architectures and different displacement or even the body and aerodynamics.”

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