Australia’s Supercars Championship is one of the most exciting, hard-fought touring car categories in the world – long defined by the intense rivalry between Holden and Ford. In 2022, a high-profile defection has raised the stakes even higher.
Top team Walkinshaw Andretti United (WAU) – which has raced Holdens since 1990 and is perhaps the best-known Holden team in Supercars – has just announced that in 2023, they’ll be ditching the Red Lion for the Blue Oval in a move that’s taken the sport by surprise.
Getting WAU on board as a factory-supported team is an absolute coup for Ford, particularly when WAU started life as Holden’s factory team. Frankly, we’re not surprised: Holden as a brand is long dead and really only exists as a badge slapped on modern Supercars. General Motors can’t hope to compete with Ford, who’s still producing the Mustang and selling it locally.
Anyway… Last week, SSMEDIA, Supercars’ principal design company, shared the first look at what the WAU Gen3 Mustang is going to look like next year, and it looks absolutely staunch.
The WAU livery looks great on the Gen3 Mustang, whose lithe coupe body is very different to the sometimes ungainly four-door bodies we’ve seen race in Supercars before. It’s an absolute monster and we’re very keen to see Chaz Mostert whip one of these around in the flesh next year.
WAU isn’t the only team trying to get a jump on 2023, as a number of teams have also released Gen3-spec renders to signal their allegiance to a brand. Take Matt Stone Racing, who’s released Gen3-spec Chevrolet Camaro renders of its 2022 livery.
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It’s going to be a bit weird seeing Camaros and Mustangs race on tracks that used to be battlegrounds for Commodores and Falcons… At the same time, it’s an exciting new era for Supercars.
In other motorsports news, check out Charles Leclerc’s awkward crash at the Historic Grand Prix of Monaco.