If we had a pound for every time in 2024 a Ford Mustang race car has worn a livery inspired by that of the legendary Castrol TOM’S Toyota Supra JGTC racer… we’d have two pounds, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.
Yep, four months after Castrol-sponsored RFK Racing looked to the oil company’s iconic white, red and green livery that adorned the massively successful Supra in the ’90s for NASCAR’s annual Throwback Weekend, it’s happened again.
Tickford Ford Mustang with Castrol Supra livery – front detail
This time, it’s the Mustang that Tickford Racing fields in Australia’s Supercars series (formerly V8 Supercars). As an aside, if you’re not watching Supercars, you really should be – it’s like all the best bits of NASCAR, GT3 and BTCC combined, and then sometimes they race up and down a mountain. And there’s more swearing.
It’ll be co-driven by Thomas Randle and Tyler Everingham at this weekend’s Sandown 500, taking place at Sandown Raceway on the outskirts of Melbourne – another race that sees teams field special, one-off liveries.
Tickford Ford Mustang with Castrol Supra livery – front
As with RFK, Tickford has leveraged its Castrol sponsorship to look back to the Supra that won the JGTC championship in 1997 and ’99, and has become something of a cultural icon thanks to its inclusion in the Gran Turismo series.
“Like a lot of people, I have fond memories of playing Gran Turismo on PlayStation growing up, and the Castrol TOM’s livery is one of the first cars I think of when I think of the game,” said Randle.
“It’s pretty exciting to see Castrol and Tickford bringing it to life on my Ford Mustang.”
Tickford Ford Mustang with Castrol Supra livery – rear
True to its roots, cars wearing this livery have set a bit of a precedent this year. The NASCAR Mustang wearing it ended up winning the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway in May, and last month, a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 wearing the same scheme was victorious in the Grampian Rally in Scotland. We’ll find out this weekend if Tickford can keep up this streak in the 500km endurance race.
