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WAU FORD MOVE EXPECTED 

By Dan McCarthy

The motorsport industry is a buzz with speculation that legendary Supercars squad Walkinshaw Andretti United is set for a switch to Ford Mustangs for 2023 with the move to the new Gen3 regulations.

With Ford Performance confirming a big announcement on Friday morning, indications are that Ford will announce the WAU move to Ford and will run the new Gen3 Mustang.

Speculation has been circulating for some time that a current Holden team could be making the change to Ford in coming months and it appears as though that will be WAU.

Walkinshaw, is name that has been associated heavily with Holden, racing as the sole factory Holden Racing Team for three decades, however it will change allegiance to Ford at the end of the year.

The move comes as the Supercars Championship transitions into the Gen3 era, which will see all current race cars become redundant and therefore if a move was to be made, this would be the time to do it.

A shot of the Gen3 Mustang testing at Queensland Raceway

As a side note to this, Grove Racing has made the move to have its Ford engines prepared by Walkinshaw Performance. While this may be delivering Walkinshaw some experience with a Ford engine, the new Gen3 engine program will see a completely new power plant architecture, with a change to the Coyote engine and apparent sole control engine supplier.

Currently two manufacturers have committed to the Gen3 era, Ford with the Mustang and Chevrolet with the Camaro.

Unlike many of the current Holden teams, Walkinshaw Andretti United has never publicly committed to move across to the Chevrolet brand and run the Camaro.

As reported by AUTO ACTION last year WAU was in conversations with Jaguar, however the COVID-19 pandemic saw the deal fall through despite the two parties previously winning the Bathurst 1000 together in 1985.

Holden and Walkinshaw Performance, then as the Holden Racing Team have an even more rich history together winning six V8 Supercar Championships and seven Bathurst 1000s.

AUTO ACTION attempted to make contact with the team, but they did not respond.

The 2011 Bathurst 1000 was the last win for the team as a the official factory Holden team

For more of the latest motorsport news pick up the current issue of Auto Action.