{"id":543855,"date":"2026-03-16T10:31:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T10:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/543855\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T10:31:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T10:31:18","slug":"national-news-formula-ford-star-graduates-to-mustang-cup-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/543855\/","title":{"rendered":"National news: Formula Ford star graduates to Mustang Cup Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mustangcup3_.jpg\" alt=\"Formula Ford star graduates to Mustang Cup Australia\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFawcett has already tested at SMP. Image: Supplied <\/p>\n<p>Fawcett and his family team have purchased a new Ford Mustang Dark Horse R and will contest the full season under his own team banner, spearheaded by his father and ex-rally driver Mark.<\/p>\n<p>The family has parked its Formula Ford program after three national seasons in which the youngster proved himself a regular winner.<\/p>\n<p>Fawcett is now eyeing a multi-step career progression with the Blue Oval.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s exciting to join Motorcraft Mustang Cup Australia,\u201d said Fawcett.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe spent three years in the Formula Ford, but we decided we needed to move onto the next phase of my career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe landed on Motorcraft Mustang Cup because of how well it worked for us. We picked this over others because the Mustang Dark Horse R is a better package \u2013 more power and a better tyre.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFord\u2019s support in motorsport was a big attraction for us, and there is a clear pathway within its racing program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFord Racing\u2019s structure, which includes GT4, GT3 and Hypercar opportunities, makes Mustang Cup very attractive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1024697\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fawcett_mustangcup1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Joe Fawcett. Image: Supplied<\/p>\n<p>Fawcett recently tested the Mustang at Sydney Motorsport Park ahead of the inaugural round at Phillip Island as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries on March 27-29.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCompared to the Formula Ford, it\u2019s\u00a0heavier, has huge power, and requires a new driving style,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut it is a category Formula Ford has prepared me well for.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Dark Horse R also has a lot more driver assists including the auto blip, shift-cut and ABS, which will be good for broadening my driving style.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m definitely nervous about going to Phillip Island due to my limited laps, so the first round will be a learning curve.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll just build from that and hopefully we\u2019ll be battling for race wins towards the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/t.cfjump.com\/92797\/b\/285241\" rel=\"nofollow sponsored noopener\" data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none; vertical-align: middle;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/285241.gif\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fawcett has already tested at SMP. Image: Supplied Fawcett and his family team have purchased a new Ford&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-543855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}