Ford Mustang GT4 wins on Australian debut
Just days after it was received by its team, Ford’s GT4 Mustang won at the season opener for this year’s Monochrome Australia GT4 Series. Entered by Miedecke Motorsport and driven by the experienced George Miedecke and teenager Rylan Gray, the first Mustang GT4 in Australia won both races in the opening round held at Phillip Island.
For Miedecke Motosport, it was a scramble to prepare the GT4 for its race debut, having only received the Multimatic-built car on the Tuesday ahead of race weekend, with the first test two days later.
“The arrival of our Mustang GT4 marks a new era of Ford Performance in Australia, and we are thrilled,” said Andrew Miedecke, of Miedecke Motorsport. “This car embodies the spirit of performance and passion that defines the Mustang legacy.”
In the 18-car field for the opening 40-minute race (shortened from 1-hour due to delays in an earlier race), the GT4 Mustang qualified fifth. Miedecke started and had improved to second behind the Method Motorsport McLaren Artura after 16 minutes. Gray drove the second stint, slowly eating into the McLaren’s lead until he was able to make a successful pass with less than 10 minutes to run.
While Gray was able to build a solid lead, lapped traffic compressed the frontrunners in the closing stages and the youngster would only win by 0.7 seconds at the finish.
The second GT4 race went the full hour and saw Gray start, holding a narrow lead – less than 1 second - over the Method Motorsport McLaren. This stretched during the driver change when Method released too early and copped a drive-through penalty.
With Miedecke at the wheel for the second stint, the Mustang was able to hold a steady margin over the chasing field and ultimately win by a comfortable 10 seconds after an hour of racing.
To complement the GT4’s racetrack debut, Ford Australia took on naming rights duties for the round, with the ‘Ford Mustang 60 Years Race Phillip Island’ featuring car club displays, parade laps of the circuit for Mustang owners and other Mustang-themed attractions.