MATT Stone Racing has affirmed it will run Camaros in the Repco Supercars Championship next season under a deal with Chevrolet Racing.
The squad which currently runs two Triple Eight-built Holden Commodores had last year publicly floated the possibility of switching to Ford Mustangs for the Gen3 era.
Citing the Stone family’s historical links to Ford, MSR even released renders of its 2021 liveries on Ford Mustang bodies.
However, in the wake of last week’s bombshell news that Walkinshaw Andretti United will cross the floor to Ford, the Blue Oval stated it would not be adding any further teams.
Ford declared in a surprisingly pointed statement that “we’re about quality over quantity” and “we’re here to win, not to make up the numbers.”
Although MSR was not mentioned by name, they were clear references to Stone’s squad, which is currently in its fifth season of main game competition.
“There were many factors that had to be weighed up just like any major decision in any business,” said MSR CEO and Managing Director, Matt Stone of linking with Chevrolet Racing.
“MSR is not in Supercars to just make up the numbers as we have shown with our continuous improvement and results.
“The team currently sits seventh in the Teams Championship behind WAU in sixth place. We are here to win, and the quality of our key partnerships is key to achieving that goal.
“Being a race team, the overall performance of the car was of course at the top of our list, and we have no doubt that the Chevy Racing Camaro will be an excellent package that we can win races with.
“We are also impressed with the leadership and support at Triple Eight, which is something Ford doesn’t offer.”
MSR also declared it’ll run its current two ZB Commodores in Super2 next season and three VFs in Super3, making it “100 percent General Motors at every level of Supercars racing”.
“The most difficult part of this decision was knowing that we have a lot of fans that wanted to see the Stone family back racing with Ford,” Stone added.
“We did speak with both GM and Ford about this decision for over a year and we thank them both for the time and effort that went into those discussions but in the end, it was clear to us that the team at GM and Chevrolet Racing were more aligned with our goals and us with their goals, which is key to any relationship.”
Chris Payne, General Manager Chevrolet Racing added: “We’re excited that Matt Stone Racing is onboard with the Chevrolet Racing Camaro for Gen3.
“Matt and the MSR team have shown a great commitment to the GM product at all levels of the competition, and we’re enthused to be working with them as we enter this next exciting era.”
MSR drivers Todd Hazelwood, who returned to the team this season after two years at Brad Jones Racing, and new recruit Jack Le Brocq currently sit 11th and 23rd in the championship respectively.
