Ford’s 1500kW electric SuperVan to cameo at 2024 Australian Grand Prix

The Ford SuperVan 4.2 – an electric Transit-inspired race car with close to 1500kW – will be demonstrated at next month’s 2024 Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park, Melbourne.

It will be piloted by a yet-to-be-announced ‘special surprise guest driver’ behind the wheel – which could come from the Formula One grid.

The 1491kW four-motor electric Ford Transit Custom-inspired promotional van, built by Ford Performance, will add the country’s biggest motorsport event as one of two new dates on its Australian tour.

It will take to the Albert Park circuit on Thursday 21 March before being on static display for the remainder of the race weekend, with the Formula One Grand Prix itself taking place on Sunday 24 March.

The 2024 Australian Formula One Grand Prix race day is already a sell-out, the sport undergoing a rise in popularity in the wake of the Netflix Drive to Survive Series, the sixth season set to air from 23 February 2024.

Ford’s suggestion of a ‘special surprise guest driver’ for SuperVan’s Albert Park laps follows last year’s confirmation the car-maker would return to the sport with Red Bull Racing in 2026.

Despite Red Bull Racing using Honda engines until 2026, its drivers have been used on numerous occasions in Ford promotional material since the announcement in February 2023.

Red Bull Racing’s current driver pool is led by three-time world champion Max Verstappen and team-mate Sergio Perez, while the outfit’s sister team – the oddly-named ‘Visa Cash App RB’ – includes Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda and Australian Daniel Riccardo.

Additionally, Ford has drivers in the Supercars field at Albert Park who could potentially drive the SuperVan 4.2, given the Australian racing series is a support category at the event.

Ford has also confirmed the SuperVan 4.2 will also make an on-track appearance with several guest drivers at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival at Victoria Park on March 15-17, 2024.

The two new dates add to the previously-announced track appearances, which start at this weekend’s Bathurst 12 Hour race at Mount Panorama with two-time Le Mans winner Romain Dumas at the wheel.

The electric van will stay on for the Bathurst 500 the following weekend, February 24-25, for the first round of this year's V8 Supercars Championship.

The SuperVan 4.2 completed its first running in Australia with a test at Sydney Motorsport Park on Tuesday 13 February, to ensure the vehicle is in proper order and safely running.

Driving the vehicle for the so-called 'shakedown' was former World Rally Championship driver Manfred Stohl, who heads up STARD Advanced
Research and Development, the company Ford Performance worked with to develop and build the electric van.

The SuperVan 4.2 made its first public appearance in June 2023, competing in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, where Dumas posted the second-fastest time on the famous course up the Colorado, US mountain.