WALKINSHAW Performance’s role in a Ford tilt at the Finke Desert Race is not necessarily the start of an expanded relationship, according to Blue Oval head honcho Mark Rushbrook.
Walkinshaw Andretti United switched to Ford for the 2023 Supercars season, and now the performance division of the business is supporting the Kelly Racing-built Ranger Raptor at next weekend’s off-road event in the Northern Territory.
Rushbrook was quick to declare his interest in creating customer versions of the Ranger Raptor, as it has done with various other racing products.
But he downplayed suggestions that that’s where Walkinshaw could factor.
“For sure Walkinshaw is capable of a lot of things including that, but other partners are as well,” said Rushbrook.
“So definitely think highly of what Walkinshaw and WAU are capable of but we have also got a lot of other great partners around the world.”
Rushbrook took a similar line when asked if Walkinshaw/Ford could next align in the automotive or GT3 sectors.
“We have not made any commitments of what we’re going to do with Mustang GT3 in Australia other than we have a lot of interest there from a lot of different partners: teams, drivers, et cetera,” he said.
“We ourselves have a lot of interest in that car racing there, especially at Bathurst, so no decisions made in terms of partners for GT3 in the market.”
As for racing at Finke, Rushbrook pointed to Ford’s commitment to a diverse global racing program including an increasing off-road presence.
“It’s another proving grounds,” he said of Finke.
“We’re a global company, especially with where the product was developed, it’s an opportunity for us to race it in another important part of the world for us in the Australian market and another tough proving grounds to show what the product is capable of.”
The Ranger Raptor debuted late last year at the Baja 1000.