A PROUDLY Hyundai team running a Mustang in an all-Ford category?
That’s exactly the score when it comes to Jack Perkins’ 2026campaign in Australia’s newest one-make series.
The Dark Horse R which Perkins is racing this weekend at Phillip Island is owned by Triple Eight shareholder Earl Evans.
And while it is sponsored by Triple Eight and sports the #888, the car is being run by HMO Customer Racing.
That is, the same HMO Customer Racing which is synonymous with Hyundai in this country.
It was in fact appointed Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing’s official agent in Australia seven years ago.
The Undercut – Breaking down the big 2026 issues!
The Undercut is back for 2026, with Aaron Noonan once again joined by Jack Perkins and James Moffat, breaking down a massive start to the new motorsport season!
It was subsequently behind three of the five TCR Australia title-winning campaigns (Will Brown 2019, Josh Buchan 2023-24) and last year delivered victory on the World Tour stage for Buchan in South Korea and Macau.
“The reason I’m involved is Earl Evans, Shaw and Partners’ CEO, bought one of the cars when they first came out to Australia,” Perkins explained this week via The Undercut.
“He actually wasn’t planning on racing it, it was more an opportunity to do some driver days with him and some other people involved with Ford and whatever else.
“And then we were talking over Christmas into the New Year about what our racing endeavours would look like and Earl kindly offered me the car to race and help bolster the numbers of the new category which Ford are heavily behind.
“Since then it has been about nine weeks of putting this program together which has involved getting a transporter, getting a team and piecing it all together.”
Perkins placed sixth and fifth in the two practice sessions today, with the first-ever Mustang Cup Australia pole position up for grabs this afternoon from 4:35pm AEDT.