PENSKE THREATENS SWITCH TO HOLDEN

AMERICAN MOGUL Roger Penske has upped the pressure on Ford Australia to support his Supercars team by declaring that a switch to Holden isn’t out of the question.

The shock possibility of DJR Team Penske defecting from the Blue Oval to the Red Lion is revealed exclusively in the latest issue of Auto Action magazine, on sale today.

Penske expressed his growing frustration with Broadmeadows’ antipathy by conceding that in the absence of a competitive follow-up to the aging Falcon FG X racer, his Australian outpost would need to look elsewhere.

He admitted that discussions with other manufacturers had been unsuccessful, leaving the new ZB Commodore as the logical alternative.

“You know, we can run a Commodore, too,” Penske told Auto Action. “This is about winning. At a certain point, if you can’t get there on one horse, you’re going to have to get on another one.”

He expands on his threat to abandon Ford in favour of the ZB Commodore, which dominated on debut at the Adelaide 500 earlier this month, in the Auto Action cover story, which is set to dominate conversation in the Supercars paddock at Albert Park this weekend.

Penske also outlines his lack of dialogue with Ford Australia executives.

The legendary team owner, who is also head of the multi-national Penske Corporation transport and automotive empire, has strong links with multiple manufacturers internationally and has never been averse to changing sides in IndyCar and NASCAR to maintain Team Penske as a front-runner.

But a switch to Holden would be a polarising move because Dick Johnson Racing, which he rescued in late 2014, has been a Ford stalwart since 1980.

Along with Tickford Racing, DJR Team Penske has been pushing Ford Australia – which quit Supercars at the end of 2014 – to support a change to a Mustang-bodied V8 racer.

Team Penske has a winning alliance with Ford in NASCAR and Ford Performance bosses in Detroit are supportive of the Mustang proposal, but local Blue Oval management remains resistant despite the new-generation pony car’s sales success as Australia’s most popular ‘sports car’.

While Penske expressed a clear preference for staying with Ford in Supercars, he was adamant that DJR Team Penske would change cars to remain competitive in 2019 and beyond.

“We’re going to have to do something,” Penske said. “I think that if we want to change over to another manufacturer, obviously it would have to be Commodore.”

In earlier unpublished comments, Penske made it clear that DJR Team Penske was open to offers from other manufacturers because of Ford Australia’s disinterest.

“Absolutely,” he said. “We’ve had some discussions (about 2019 and beyond) with other manufacturers over, I’d say, the last 12-18 months. I think we have to take a real good look after ’18 and see who’s interested in us as a team and where we’re going because, right now, Ford locally is really not interested in any support.

“I think we’ve carried the Ford oval – and so has Prodrive (Tickford) – in a professional way and we’ve won a lot of races with Ford. So I would hope that maybe they’ll have a change of heart at some point and want to get back in.

“But with everything that’s been happening here (end of local manufacturing in October 2106), they’re probably focused on building the brand without local production.”

The full exclusive story of Penske’s powerful threat to switch to Holden is in the latest issue of Auto Action, on sale now.

By MARK FOGARTY

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