A factory-backed Ford Mustang GT3 will get its first start at the Suzuka 1000km endurance race next month courtesy of two Aussie teams that have joined forces to bring the Pony Car to the world-famous Japanese event. 

Miedecke Motorsport and Melbourne Performance Centre have united to take the ’Stang to the circuit with a strong driver line-up featuring factory talents Chris Mies, Dennis Olsen and Frederic Vervisch, with the alliance competing as Miedecke Motorsport by Team MPC. Miedecke is the Aussie agent for the manufacturer’s GT3, GT4 and Mustang Cup cars, and those close ties to Ford have now paid off.

Blue Ford racing car in a garage next to a Melbourne Performance Centre trailer, featuring white graphics and a rear wing, ready for track use.
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The Mustang will wear Ford’s factory colours when it lines up for Japan’s oldest endurance sports car race on September 11-13. The GT3 is based on the 2024 Mustang Dark Horse model, which runs an enhanced version of the 5.0-litre Coyote V8 making 350kW and 550Nm. The GT3’s motor comes in at 5.4 litres after being developed by Ford and M-Sport, and now makes around 387kW and 660Nm. 

The ’Stang is running the latest Evo specification for the enduro, and also features bespoke short-long arm suspension, a rear-mounted transaxle gearbox, carbon-fibre body panels and, of course, a race-bred aero package that has been revised from the original GT3 in order to make the car more planted and stable.

If the driver line-up is anything to go by, hopes should be high for the Aussie-backed Mustang. Mies has won the Nürburgring 24 Hours and Bathurst 12 Hour events, Olsen races the Mustang full-time in the USA, and Vervisch combined with Mies to win the GTD class at last year’s 24 Hours of Daytona in the GT3.

Rear three-quarter view of a blue Ford Racing race car with a large rear wing and white graphics against a light background
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Miedecke Motorsport and MPC run some of their operations out of the same workshop in Melbourne. Miedecke gave the Mustang GT4 its first global race win at Phillip Island in 2024, and MPC – which will manage logistics in Japan – is Australia’s most successful GT3 team.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for an all-Australian effort to compete in one of the world’s great sports car races,” Miedecke Motorsport CEO Andrew Miedecke said.

“We all feel very grateful to be entrusted by Ford Racing to field their official factory entry at Suzuka. The line-up of drivers is terrific, too. Ford goes racing to win, and that’s our intention.”