Photo: Ford Performance Racing

FPR to race the new Falcon FG X in 2015, for a final season?

By

Ford Performance Racing will run the Falcon FG X for the 2015 season, with the high performance model also set to be the final Falcon following Ford’s withdrawal from manufacturing in Australia.

The Falcon FG X road car has been on display at the Mount Panorama circuit this weekend and now FPR, which have dominated so far this weekend, leading four out of five practice sessions, have revealed an artist’s impression of what their next car will look like.

“Public reaction to the FG X Falcon has been incredibly strong and it’s obvious just how much passion there is for the brand so it has been a pleasure to develop the final Falcon V8 Supercar,” said FPR team principal Tim Edwards to v8supercars.com.au.

The announcements follows intense speculation about Ford’s future in the Championship. The Australian Daily Telegraph ‘broke’ the news this weekend that 2015 will be Ford’s last season in the Championship.

Ford’s factory deal with FPR ends at the conclusion of this season, and FPR’s continuation in 2015 could be without backing from Ford, while Dick Johnson Racing, now merged with Penske Racing as of next season, hasn’t had Ford support since 2008, despite winning the title in 2010 with James Courtney.

“We have two teams who will race Ford in 2015 even if they will not be factory backed,” said V8 Supercars CEO James Warburton to The Daily Telegraph Australia.

“We have consistently made our case to Ford, not only for 2015, but well into the future. They know exactly where we are going and the huge benefits we can deliver…we would obviously love to have them continue in the sport.”

Team boss Edwards hit back at the speculation that Ford withdrawing is a done deal.

“It’s not technically true what’s being reported,” Edwards told Fox Sports News.

“At the moment we are still in negotiations with Ford about a future agreement. It’s premature to say that it’s a lost cause.”

“It’s taken us a while to get to this point but we are still negotiating with them. It’s not a fait accompli at this stage.”

From 2017, the regulations for the V8 Supercars Championship are set to change further, with intense speculation that turbocharged power units will replace the current 5.0 litre normally aspirated V8 formula.