Ford frustration puts future of V8 Supercars in doubt

V8 Supercars is risking driving Ford out of the sport and in doing so bringing the future of the racing category into question.

The American brand is the only fully-fledged manufacturer engaged with Supercars, with the Chevrolet Camaro program believed to be primarily funded by Supercars itself with only limited backing from General Motors. Ford has struggled all season with the competitiveness of its new Mustang under the new-for-2023 ‘Gen3’ regulations, with Ford only winning twice and taking four pole positions across the first 19 races of the season.

Ford Performance global motorsports director, Mark Rushbrook, spoke with Australian media this week in the US and made his position on the category clear.

Read More About Ford Mustang

Ford reveals track-ready 2024 Mustang that anyone can buy 2023 Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro Gen3 V8 Supercars revealed: How close are these new race cars to their road-going models? 2023 Ford Mustang detailed including V8 engine, design and more!

“Am I frustrated with Supercars? Yes,” Rushbrook said. “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 - we don’t race if we can’t.”

Asked if the frustrations with Supercars was getting to the point of making the difficult decision to leave the category, Rushbrook stopped short of threatening to quit the series but did make it clear that he wants Supercars to ensure it can compete evenly with the Chevrolet teams.

“Any decision with any series, whether it’s to join or to leave, is a difficult decision,” he said. “Because we don’t want to be coming and going into series. What I will say about Supercars is, I said I was frustrated, they are starting to make the changes. I wish they would have done it before the season started, but they are making changes now to try and improve the situation.”

Ford has struggled all season with the competitiveness of its new Mustang under the new-for-2023 ‘Gen3’ regulations.

Rushbrook has been pushing Supercars for more technical information to allow it to modify its Mustangs in order to achieve a competitive balance with the Camaro, but the lack of transparency is making the process difficult. Rushbrook pointed to the very different way the US NASCAR championship operates, with all teams and manufacturers able to study live telemetry from every car in each race so every competitor knows where it stands.

“There are certainly still limits or things that aren’t happening, and I’ve been very open about it, the transparency of data [is one of those things],” he explained. “I can sit here in this building [the Ford Performance technical centre in Charlotte] or I can sit on my couch at home and I can see what every car on a NASCAR track is doing. I know what [Toyota NASCAR driver] Martin Truex Jr is doing with his throttle on every single lap, I know his brake pressure - I can’t see that in Supercars. And without that transparency of data, it’s very difficult for us as a manufacturer or our teams, that we love, to understand what the differences are in the cars - the Chevy and the Ford - and what changes we can make in the parameters and the restrictions that Supercars [employ]. It’s a guessing game in many ways.”

Losing Ford’s support would be a major blow to Supercars, leaving the category without any major automotive company back for the first time in its existence, given Chevrolet and General Motors Specialty Vehicles limited capacity. It’s a scenario that highlights the struggle of domestic racing championships but especially Supercars since the demise of the local manufacturing industry.

Ford has won twice and taken four pole positions across the first 19 races of the season.

In contrast, global racing series, such as GT3 and GT4 sports cars, are more appealing to car makers as it allows for investment in one racing car concept that can then race in multiple countries and with privateer teams paying Ford for their cars. Instead, Ford has invested millions to develop the Gen3 Mustang just for the Australian series with no global crossover.

When confronted with the direct question of, does the Supercars series make sense as a standalone domestic category, Rushbrook tried to put a positive spin on it but still believes major change is needed.

“I think it can make sense,” he said. “If we didn’t think it would make sense, we wouldn’t have pursued the development of the Gen3 car to race there. I think it still makes sense, Ford and Chevy racing against each other. Yes, we want to race against a lot of different manufacturers, but we can do that in other series. To race Ford against Chevy in Australia is still a great opportunity.

The American brand is the only fully-fledged manufacturer engaged with Supercars.

“But where it’s proven to maybe not be the opportunity we thought it was, was the parity process worked with the Gen2 cars, when it was the same engine architecture, the same displacement. The parity tools did not advance to work with rules that allowed different engine architectures and different displacements or even the body and aerodynamics, the tools just aren’t what they need to be.”

The new Gen3 rules were meant to future-proof the category by introducing the American coupes and allowing Ford to keep racing its new Mustang, but with the Blue Oval brand left uncompetitive it would be understandable for it to withdraw and stop handing its arch-rival a publicity boost.