Ford will place its 2026 Suzuka 1000km victory hopes in the hands of a new Australian partnership as Miedecke Motorsport and Melbourne Performance Centre join forces for the 11-13 September endurance contest.
Competing as Miedecke Motorsport by Team MPC, the operation will field the sole Ford Mustang GT3 in a highly competitive Pro class. Ford has also assembled a proven factory driver line-up, with Christopher Mies, Dennis Olsen and Frédéric Vervisch sharing the car for the Mustang’s first appearance in the Summer Endurance Race.
The trio already possesses considerable experience together and arrives with major endurance success on its résumé. Mies, Olsen and Vervisch won the Rolex 24 together in 2025 before reuniting in a Mustang at the ADAC Ravenol 24h Nürburgring in May.
Proven Ford trio reunites for Suzuka 1000km challenge
Ford has turned to familiarity as it prepares to take the Mustang GT3 to Suzuka.
Mies, Olsen and Vervisch already understand one another from their previous endurance programmes, while all three bring substantial experience at the highest levels of GT racing.
Their 2025 Rolex 24 victory provides the strongest evidence of what the combination can achieve in a major endurance contest. Furthermore, the trio continued to build its relationship with the Mustang when they shared the car at the Nürburgring earlier this year.
Vervisch also brings particularly valuable knowledge of Suzuka. The Belgian claimed victory in the 2019 Suzuka endurance event, giving the team a driver who already understands the demands of the Japanese circuit and the challenges that can develop across a long race.
Consequently, Miedecke Motorsport by Team MPC enters its first Suzuka programme with a driver combination that requires little introduction to either endurance racing or high-pressure factory competition.
Miedecke expands Ford relationship onto international stage
The Suzuka programme also represents a major step for Miedecke Motorsport. The Australian operation primarily races the Mustang GT4 domestically and plays an important role in Ford’s racing ecosystem in the region. It supplies parts for the GT3 and GT4 versions of the Mustang across Australia, while it also supports the Dark Horse R used in Mustang Cup Australia.
Now, the partnership with Team MPC takes that relationship onto one of international GT racing’s biggest stages.
Miedecke Motorsport CEO Andrew Miedecke believes the collaboration creates a natural fit as both organisations continue to strengthen their relationship with Ford Racing.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for an all-Australian effort to compete in one of the world’s great sports car races,” said Miedecke. “It’s been great to grow our partnership with Team MPC this year. We share space at their Melbourne workshop and with our links to Ford Racing, this partnership was the perfect fit.
“We all feel very grateful to be entrusted by Ford to field their official factory entry at Suzuka. The line-up of drivers is terrific too. Ford goes racing to win, and that’s our intention.”
That ambition sets a clear target for the new partnership. Rather than treating Suzuka purely as an opportunity to gain international experience, Miedecke and MPC intend to fight at the front from their first event together under the new identity.
Team MPC brings extensive GT experience to Suzuka 1000km outing with Ford
While Miedecke provides close ties to Ford’s Mustang programmes, Melbourne Performance Centre adds extensive experience from Australian GT competition.
MPC has built a strong reputation through its long-standing association with Audi and currently leads the GT World Challenge Australia drivers’ standings. The team therefore brings established GT3 knowledge into the Suzuka project despite changing manufacturer machinery for this particular programme.
Moreover, the partnership has already developed throughout 2026. Miedecke Motorsport shares workshop space with MPC in Melbourne, giving both organisations an existing working relationship before they tackle the Japanese endurance race together.
MPC director Troy Russell believes that familiarity can help the team maximise its opportunity at Suzuka.
“This is an exciting project for our team and we are really looking forward to heading to Japan to represent Ford at the Suzuka 1000km,” added Russell. “We’ve worked closely with Miedecke Motorsport this year, and this deal is an extension of the partnership that has worked really well.
“This is one of the world’s most revered sports car races, and we feel that we have all the right ingredients to give it a real shake. Chris (Mies) and Frédéric (Vervisch) have raced with our team in the past, so we know we have a great roster of drivers and we really can’t wait to get over there.”
Previous relationships with Mies and Vervisch give MPC another useful advantage.
Instead of beginning the weekend with an entirely unfamiliar driver group, the team already understands how two members of the line-up work and communicate. That experience could prove particularly valuable as the new Miedecke-MPC partnership adapts to the pressures of a major international endurance event.
Mustang makes Summer Endurance Race debut
The Suzuka weekend will also mark another important milestone for Ford’s current GT3 programme. The Mustang will make its Summer Endurance Race debut against a Pro field that continues to attract major manufacturers and factory-supported driver combinations.
Ford therefore enters a difficult environment for its first appearance. Suzuka demands precision through its fast corners and technical sequences, while the race distance places additional pressure on reliability, tyre management, strategy and consistency.
However, Ford can draw confidence from the experience behind its programme. Mies, Olsen and Vervisch have already delivered major endurance success together, while both Miedecke Motorsport and MPC bring established racing operations into the partnership. The Mustang itself also arrives after gaining further mileage across global GT competition, giving the team a platform it can develop throughout the weekend.
Six manufacturers already confirmed in Pro class
Ford’s confirmation adds further depth to an increasingly diverse Pro category. Six manufacturers have now confirmed representation among the professional entries, with Ford joining Chevrolet, Ferrari, Mercedes-AMG, Nissan and Porsche.
More entries could also join the field when organisers reveal the provisional entry list.
That variety creates an additional challenge for Miedecke Motorsport by Team MPC. The team will not simply face several strong individual cars but a collection of manufacturers bringing different strengths, experienced crews and accomplished professional drivers.
Ford’s sole Mustang must therefore deliver across every element of the weekend if the partnership wants to challenge for victory.
Nevertheless, its line-up gives the manufacturer strong foundations.
Australian partnership targets immediate impact
Miedecke Motorsport and Team MPC enter Suzuka with different histories but a shared objective. Miedecke brings Ford knowledge and an expanding relationship with the Mustang racing programme, while MPC contributes extensive GT3 experience and established links with members of the driver line-up.
Meanwhile, Mies, Olsen and Vervisch give the team a combination that already knows how to win major endurance races together.
Vervisch’s previous Suzuka victory adds another valuable element as the Mustang tackles the event for the first time.
The new partnership therefore arrives with little interest in simply making up the numbers.
Miedecke has made Ford’s expectations clear: the manufacturer races to win. With one Mustang, a newly combined Australian operation and three proven factory drivers, Suzuka will provide the first test of whether that ambition can translate into another major endurance victory.
