The Story So Far
Ford Performance Racing (FPR) was established in late December 2002 following the acquisition of the assets of Glenn Seton Racing by the world’s largest independent motorsport and automotive engineering company, Prodrive.
Starting life as a three car team for the 2003 season, driven by Craig Lowndes, Glenn Seton and David Besnard, FPR raced into the V8 Supercar Championship top five (5th) on debut. Scaling back to a two car operation in 2004, the team’s first two years were highlighted with one round victory and five podium finishes, including two consecutive runner-up finishes at the Bathurst 1000.
The 2005 season saw the team race to a top ten Championship finish at 9th with driving duties taken over by Jason Bright, Greg Ritter and international Sportscar racer David Brabham during the season. Most of the year was spent developing an all new FPR designed BA Falcon V8 Supercar chassis and engine between the three experienced drivers. By the closing stages of the 2005 season a number of strong qualifying and race performances ensured that the Prodrive team was on the right track for a stronger Championship result in 2006. The team had also attracted the sport’s most promising young talent, Mark Winterbottom, to partner Bright behind the wheel in 2006.
The team’s hard work and determination resulted in FPR’s most successful season to date in 2006 with the team winning the prestigious Sandown 500 (Bright & Winterbottom) and the inaugural Bahrain Desert 400 V8 Supercar round (Bright), along with several top three results by both drivers. This earned the Prodrive team second place honours in the Teams’ Championship, along with third and fifth places in the Drivers’ Championship. These results also played a major part in securing Ford Australia the coveted 2006 V8 Supercar Manufacturers’ Title.
The 2007 season saw a new driver join FPR, due the departure of Bright due to the formation of his own team. Highly experienced and accomplished driver Steve Richards was welcomed to the team, taking the wheel of the number 6 Castrol FPR Falcon. He and team mate Winterbottom raced to several podium results, including a second consecutive victory of the Desert 400 in Bahrain along with second and third places at the Sandown 500 and Symmons Plains rounds. The team also gained four Pole positions during the season, gaining Orrcon Ford Credit FPR Falcon driver Winterbottom the 2007 V8 Supercar Pole Position Award. Overall, FPR gained a top five Championship result with Winterbottom at 5th and Richards 7th in the Championship.
Prodrive competes in Australia's premier motor racing category with impeccable motorsport credentials. Headed by former World Rally Champion co-driver David Richards CBE, Prodrive has won more than 200 events including 100 international rallies with customer teams and six World Rally Championship titles with Subaru. Prodrive has also won the British Touring Car Championship five times with Ford, BMW and Alfa Romeo. The British company has also enjoyed success in International Sports Car racing, winning the GTS class at Le Mans in 2003 with a privately entered Ferrari team.
Prodrive also masterminded the BAR Honda Formula One team’s rise to second in the 2004 Formula One World Championship. In 2005, Prodrive returned the legendary Aston Martin marque to World Sportscar competition in 2005, winning two major international events. This team raced to a GT1 Class victory in the world’s most famous endurance race in 2007, the Le Mans 24 Hour. This exciting global company is working towards its most exciting motor racing challenge yet with plans to enter the Formula One World Championship with its own team in place for 2009.
The establishment and development of FPR clearly demonstrates the unlimited reach of Prodrive's global motor racing challenges. FPR’s world class motor racing engineering centre in Melbourne was opened in February, 2005. This state of the art, 3,600 square metre technical headquarters is located adjacent to the main Ford Australia assembly plant, sharing the same site location as the Ford Performance Vehicles and Prodrive Automotive Technologies Australian manufacturing and engineering operations.
The FPR Race Centre is Australia’s largest and most advanced motor racing engineering facility. All facets of FPR’s technical operations are conducted in-house, including vehicle fabrication, engine design and building, electronics engineering and composite component design and manufacturing. FPR has 40 full time staff members, 25 of whom travel to the race events.
Prior to the start of the 2008 season, FPR had gained four overall round victories, 20 round podium finishes, ten race victories, 41 top three race results and seven Pole positions.