When Ford switch first hit Percat

Late in 2022, Nick Percat admitted his switch to Ford wouldn’t feel real until he finally drove his new Mustang.

Come 8:30am on Wednesday, that proved true when Percat and Chaz Mostert rolled out Walkinshaw Andretti United’s first Ford Supercars.

Percat and Mostert had the honour of turning WAU’s first Gen3 Mustang laps at Winton Motor Raceway.

Co-drivers Fabian Coulthard and Lee Holdsworth later drove their respective cars.

It marked Percat’s first laps in a team-built Ford Supercar, having raced Commodores since his main game debut in 2010.

Percat reflected on the moment, saying it all hit home as he waited for the pit exit light to run green at Winton.

“When they were sitting there, everyone was like, ‘This is cool’,” Percat told Supercars.com.

“Then when they rolled out, I was like, ‘Wow, this has really happened, we’ve joined the Ford side’.

“Credit to the team, the cars have run well, we’re ticking through our program.

“It’s purely a shakedown day, we’re not interested in lap times.

"We’re finding out things the car does, any niggling issues we need to sort out. It’s been pretty smooth sailing.

“It’s about getting information for the engineers and mechanics, so the next time we go testing, the drivers can extract lap time

Wednesday’s running put a footnote on WAU’s journey to the Blue Oval, with the deal announced last May.

Where Percat is a Ford driver in Supercars for the first time, Mostert is in the midst of a homecoming.

Between 2013 and 2019, Mostert was one of Ford’s leading lights, notably winning the 2014 Great Race for Ford Performance Racing (now Tickford Racing).

Mostert and Percat have watched on as WAU staff worked feverishly to bring the new Gen3 Mustangs to life.

Wednesday’s running resembled more of a shakedown than a speed session, with further testing crucial to unlocking set-up secrets and pace.

“It’s a credit to our guys and girls back at the workshop,” Mostert told Supercars.com.

“Where these cars were a month-and-a-half ago to where they are now, it’s amazing to see it come together.

“Today’s about running around, system checks, making sure the cars run faultlessly — so far, so good.

“It's pretty awesome to see the first WAU Ford roll around the track.

“There’ll be more running over the next couple weeks. Obviously got Eastern Creek next week, the official test day.

"Then we’ll start to work out we need to do set-up wise. The next couple days will be crucial to get a direction for Newcastle.

“Getting some kays on the cars and then work out what we might need to do in the long run.”

WAU's first Ford races will come at the Thrifty Newcastle 500 on March 10-12.

Tickets are on sale on Supercars.com and Ticketek.com.