WALKINSHAW Andretti United cemented its place on the Ford side of the brand divide with its breakthrough in Perth.
Long known as the all-conquering Holden Racing Team, the Clayton squad decided against sticking with General Motors in the transition to Chevrolet for 2023 in favour of a shock defection to the Blue Oval.
Finally, in the 37th race of the Gen3 era, WAU took the chequered flag first via Chaz Mostert last Saturday at Wanneroo Raceway.
It was a welcome result in the eyes of Ford Performance’s Australian-based motorsport engineering lead Brendan McGinniskin.
“To get their first win as a Ford was obviously exceptional for those guys as a group, and really cemented their change from what was a highly publicised switch from the other side of the fence over to ours,” McGinniskin told the On The Grid podcast.
“I couldn’t be happier for those guys. They’re a great bunch of guys who work extremely hard at what they do just as all our teams do.
“Being able to see how they operate first-hand from the engineering perspective and being able to relate to that directly, it’s super impressive.”
McGinniskin, who confessed it’d been a nervous wait for Ford itself to open its 2024 account after Chevrolet won the opening eight Supercars races, noted that its engine program is nearing finalisation.
“The process has been a long one and from our perspective, we’re definitely getting near to the end of that now,” he said.
“The last piece of that development puzzle is for us to take our engine and the GM engine to a transient facility, like we’ve been talking about for quite a while.
“So that’s the last piece to really make sure that what we’re seeing on-track is genuine parity.”
Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters won Race 2 in Perth on Sunday to complete a Ford sweep.
