TRIPLE Eight’s first FG model Ford Falcon Supercar has been returned to its famous Vodafone colours ahead of race duties at the Repco Bathurst 1000.
Owner David Murphy campaigns the car in occasional rounds of the Dunlop Super3 Series and rejoins the category at Mount Panorama this weekend.
NEWS: 31-car field for Dunlop Series at Bathurst
The green colour previously seen on the Eggleston Motorsport-run car has been replaced by the fluoro red of Vodafone, which graced Triple Eight’s Supercars from 2007-2012.
Murphy’s car was originally built for Craig Lowndes ahead of the FG Falcon model’s debut at the start of the 2009 season, which turned out to the be team’s final year running Fords.
The TeamVodafone entries ran without Ford branding following the Blue Oval’s withdrawal of its sponsorship, instead adopting ‘Hogster’ badges for backer Hog’s Breath Café.
Lowndes campaigned the car at four events, Adelaide, Albert Park, Hamilton and Winton (where he won both races), before it became the squad’s spare.
The car re-emerged for the Phillip Island 500 and Bathurst 1000 as Triple Eight’s second entry, co-driven by Dane Allan Simonsen and Brit James Thompson.
Although racing at only six events with Triple Eight, the car competed in the main game through until the end of the Project Blueprint era.
It spent 2010 and ’11 with Tekno Autosports (winning a race at the 2010 Sydney finale) and ’12 with Dick Johnson Racing, where it was the VIP Petfoods-backed Paul Morris Motorsports entry.
The Falcon will be one of two Vodafone cars in this weekend’s Super3 field, as Jim Pollicina campaigns his ex-Lowndes Holden in the retro livery Triple Eight ran at Bathurst in 2012.
