RTR Ford Mustang showcased at Formula Drift Long Beach

The new-generation 2024 Ford Mustang, already represented in Australia's Supercars series, has now also debuted in the popular Formula Drift series with the RTR Motorsports Spec 5-FD Mustang racers.

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Debuting at Long Beach, the Mustang RTR drift cars were piloted by Chelsea DeNofa and three-time Formula Drift Pro champ James Deane.

Although neither made it through to the final-four knockout, strong qualifying positions of second for Deane and third for DeNofa point to a promising season for the team.

That'll be boosted by the return of two-time FD Pro champion and household name (in the right houses...) Vaughn Gittin Jr, who revealed his new RTR Mustang drifter in a special video earlier this month. See that clip below.

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“We took the badass styling, technology, and overall progression of the all-new Mustang as inspiration to develop our new Mustang RTRs for Formula Drift,” said Vaughn Gittin Jr. “The result is the best looking and best performing Mustang RTRs that we have ever created, and they are so fun to drive!”

The video also highlighted the new 2024 Ford Mustang's new Drift Brake feature – an oldschool-feeling handbrake that controls an electro-hydraulic drift brake.

You can read more about that in our 2024 Mustang reveal story here (and watch our walkaround below), but don't expect to know about its Australian availability until Ford reveals more about local spec in the second half of this year.

RTR played a key role in the development of that new 'Mustang Performance Electronic Parking Brake' for the roadgoing Mustang, with Gittin Jr and DeNofa both involved in the project.

"Our goal was putting larger smiles on the faces of soon to be fellow seventh-generation Mustang owners," Gittin Jr said.

A number of performance and styling pieces are available in Australia for the current sixth-gen Mustang, but its seventh-gen S650 Mustang catalogue is still to be revealed.

Check out our track review of the 2021 RTR Ford Mustang in the link and video below.