Ford Australia’s new Mustang Supercar makes its public debut this week at the Bathurst 1000, with none other than Ford racing legend Dick Johnson at the wheel.
Johnson will be the first person in the world to publicly drive the new seventh-generation Ford Mustang GT Supercar and will debut the new Mustang on Thursday afternoon before the weekend’s big race at Mount Panorama.
Ford says the car will be unveiled in the pit lane on Thursday at 12:30 p.m., before Johnson takes to the track in the afternoon. Johnson was the first driver of the current ‘Gen2’ Mustang Supercar at the Adelaide 500 in 2019 and will be the first driver of the ‘Gen3’ Mustang.
Delivered
Australian motorsport legend Dick Johnson will make his debut with the Gen3 Ford Mustang V8 Supercar at the Bathurst 1000.
The 77-year-old five-time Australian Touring Car champion and three-time Bathurst 1000 winner last drove a Mustang Supercar at Queensland Raceway in May, having driven the iconic American cars for the first time in 1985 after Ford Australia indicated that this was not the case. interested in homologating the XE Falcon following the switch from the Australian Touring Car Championship series to the international Group A rules for touring cars in late 1984.
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Johnson purchased a pair of Zakspeed-built Mustangs for use in the 1985 and 1986 seasons, before switching to the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth from 1987 until the dawn of the V8 era saw the team move to the EB Falcon.
Delivered
The new Ford Mustang will compete against the Chevrolet Camaro in the Australian Supercars Championship in 2023.
Dick Johnson Racing is currently Ford’s homologation team and has spent the past two years designing, developing and building the new Mustang Supercar with Ford Performance.
The three-time Bathurst 1000 winner said he was honored to be the first driver of the prototype race car.
“My team and I have been racing Fords for over 40 years and we are very proud representatives and ambassadors of the Blue Oval,” said Johnson.
“We’ve worked extremely hard over the past few years to make this car the best it can be, and to be the first person in the world to drive it after all that work is fantastic. Any chance to drive around Mount Panorama is incredible, but doing it in Ford’s latest race car is an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up.
“I can’t wait to drive the Mustang and see the fans over the top of the mountain, it will be very special indeed.”