Walkinshaw's ambition behind Ford alliance

Ryan Walkinshaw has stressed the importance of factory backing amid his team’s switch to Ford.

It was confirmed Friday that Walkinshaw Andretti United will field Gen3 Mustangs in the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship.

It ends over 30 years of history with General Motors, which included 27 years as Holden’s factory team.

Holden’s factory backing moved to Triple Eight in 2017.

WAU’s Ford support marks its first factory backing in six years.

Walkinshaw cited recent history in explaining the importance of the factory Ford alliance.

“If you look at Supercars over the last 10 years, I think there’s only one championship winner in the last 10 years that wasn’t a factory supported team,” he said.

"Which is a good indication of the importance of being factory supported if you want to go and win championships.

"It’s really, really critical to our ambitions to do that.

"And I think the vast majority of people would understand why we made the decision; it’s not the fact that we fell out with GM, or that we don’t have a great working relationship with GM or anything like that.

"We wanted to make a change, we wanted to be a factory team, and we wanted to go and have a partnership where we felt that we were wanted and they shared the same ambition and goals that we did.

"From the very start of the discussions with Ford, it was very clear that we shared those ambitions, shared the same values and beliefs.

"In the end, we had several options but this is the one that really felt right.”

Team principal Bruce Stewart echoed Walkinshaw’s sentiment, saying the team must deliver immediately in 2023.

"I guess there’s no excuses, right?” Stewart said.

"Our expectation is that we keep pushing forwards.

"Over the last three years, it’s been crawl, walk and then run.

"We have occasional times where you get put back on your seat a little bit, but we’re moving forwards with our team performance.

“We’ve got no excuses, we’ve got to start putting money on the table."

The 2022 season will resume at Winton on May 21-22. Purchase your tickets now.