NICK Percat says he is pumped to set the record straight with Ford when his Blue Oval second coming begins next year via Triple Eight.

Percat hails from a Holden family and has almost exclusively driven General Motors machinery in Supercars, except for the 2023 season when Walkinshaw Andretti United crossed the brand divide to coincide with the start of Gen3.

Percat confessed there was a sense of poor timing as the new Mustang struggled out of the gate against the Camaro, and as the relationship between himself and WAU waned.

But the 37-year-old declared there was absolutely no hesitation to return to the Ford fold when he began examining his future as a co-driver; ultimately agreeing to terms to replace Jamie Whincup as Broc Feeney’s enduro ally.

“Obviously they’ve had to do a lot of work in the background to get the car to where it is and it looks like it’s as every bit as competitive as the Chev now, so I’m excited,” he told V8 Sleuth.

“They’re doing a lot of work investing in the teams and the whole program in a big way, so from a driver side it’s pretty exciting to be involved in that.”

The Percat Mustang of 2023. Pic: Ross Gibb

Above all though was the chance to be part of the Triple Eight juggernaut, which has a double shot this weekend at the 2025 championship but is fired up for the 2026 enduros after going podium-less through The Bend and Bathurst this year.

“To be honest, if Triple Eight turned around tomorrow and said we’re driving a different manufacturer again and they only had a few months to get it sorted, I’d be pretty comfortable with where I’m at still,” said Percat.

“They’ve proven themselves many times with this kind of situation.”

Percat admitted to being blown away by his first visit of the team’s Banyo premises: “I had never been there in my whole career. I’d been past it but never actually seen inside or felt the atmosphere of the place and the culture.

“I’d spoken to Jamie and then went into meet everyone and sit in the car and I was like ‘wow, this is very, very cool’. You can see the reason they get very good results across the whole season.

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“So once I left there I was like ‘I’ve got to make sure this happens’.

“It’s a credit to everyone in the place: they have a very good culture and I don’t think it’s easy to replicate what they have done. A lot of teams try but it’s pretty special what they have going on there.”

The six-time race winner is keen to put together a 2026 racing program to stay sharp behind the wheel.

“The first thing on my bucket list for next year is to try to get myself in a 12 Hour car, because now it’s something I can probably focus a bit more on, so I’m keen to do that event and see if there’s some opportunities there,” he said.

“So if I can get into the 12 Hour, that would be the first tick.”

Percat’s final solo Supercars round will come for Matt Stone Racing this weekend in Adelaide, where he’ll don the #222.