Just two days after it was first revealed to the public without disguise, the new Supercars Championship Ford Mustang has hit the track for a shakedown at Queensland Raceway in the hands of defending champion Scott McLaughlin.
The car itself is McLaughlin's chassis that he will race come round one of the series; the SuperLoop Adelaide 500 on March 2-3.
McLaughlin took the time on track to shake down the two-door coupe ahead of the full series test at Phillip Island in Victoria next Thursday. McLaughlin and Kiwi teammate Fabian Coulthard will have their new liveries released next Monday.
McLaughlin was joined on track today by Jamie Whincup, who was testing his new Holden ZB Commodore chassis, and Triple Eight's new Super2 Series recruits — Kurt Kostecki and BNT V8s regular Brenton Grove.
“It was great to finally get behind the wheel of my brand-new Mustang for the 2019 season,” said McLaughlin.
“It was only a shakedown, so we didn’t get to do a lot of laps, and the weather wasn’t particularly kind to us with a bit of rain, but the car ran well and feels very nice to drive.
“It will now head back to the workshop and get stickered up in the awesome Shell V-Power colours before we head to Phillip Island for more testing next Thursday.
“It’s very exciting to be a part of bringing the Mustang into the sport, and I think this is going to be a great season.”
The Mustang is built on the same platform as the rest of the Car of the Future racers, and shares the same powertrain as the Ford Falcon FG-X that it replaces. McLaughlin's car is a new beast from scratch, hence it required yesterday's circuit shakedown. Coulthard's Mustang, meanwhile, is based on the same chassis as his Falcon from last season.