Dick Johnson Racing has established itself as a powerhouse of the sport in the past six years, and this year, will run a third Ford Mustang for the returning Simona De Silvestro and Kai Allen. Can the Swiss driver and rookie teen spring an upset?
Dick Johnson Racing has established itself as a powerhouse of the sport in the past six years, and this year, will run a third Ford Mustang for the returning Simona De Silvestro and Kai Allen.
Anton De Pasquale and Will Davison return for a third season in 2023, with both drivers winning races last season. The team returned to the front in 2017 as it recruited Scott McLaughlin alongside Fabian Coulthard.
It followed its 2017 Supercars teams' championship with a hard-fought maiden title for star driver McLaughlin in 2018.
McLaughlin and the team stepped up to a whole new level in 2019, winning a record 18 races to blow the field away.
In 2020, McLaughlin clinched his third title as he left Supercars for his IndyCar dream.
The achievements followed the Ford squad being resurrected by Team Penske buying into Dick Johnson’s legendary outfit late in 2014.
DJR won seven drivers’ titles over the course of more than three decades; five for Johnson and one each for John Bowe and James Courtney, whose 2010 crown was the last before Penske's arrival.
With Penske having celebrated his 50th anniversary in motorsport in 2016, his outfit remains an IndyCar powerhouse and has tasted success in NASCAR and sportscar racing.
McLaughlin's crown capped a stellar 2018 in which it won the Indy 500 with Australian Will Power, the NASCAR Cup Series with Joey Logano and claimed its 1000th race win.
McLaughlin had edged nearer towards the American pathway, completing IndyCar tests with Team Penske over the 2020 off-season, and confirmed a full-time move late in the year.
Penske also confirmed it would depart, with the Ford squad reverting back to its Dick Johnson Racing name.
The DJR Team Penske partnership made major progress since its formative days, returning to two cars in 2016 when Fabian Coulthard arrived alongside incumbent Scott Pye.
McLaughlin and technical mastermind Ludo Lacroix were recruited for 2017, when the squad grabbed its first race wins and the teams' title.
After a near-miss to Jamie Whincup in 2017, McLaughlin made amends 12 months later in Newcastle when he won the '18 championship.
Fittingly, given McLaughlin raced Johnson's famous #17, it was the 17th and last crown for Ford's Falcon in Supercars.
Shell V-Power Racing Team played a pivotal role in developing the Mustang that entered the series in 2019 to replace it.