Brodie Kostecki won the Repco Supercars Championship opener at Albert Park for Dick Johnson Racing.
The last Ford driver to win at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix was DJR Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin.
With victory, Kostecki broke a six-year drought.
It was a dominant display for the Blue Oval, with the Mustang locking out the top four spots – the podium completed by Matt Payne and Broc Feeney.
At the start, Kostecki got a clean getaway to get the holeshot into Turn 1. Behind him, Feeney got a strong start to usurp Golding at the first turn.
At Turn 3, side-to-side contact between Andre Heimgartner and Thomas Randle pushed the #55 Tickford Mustang into Kai Allen, whose #26 Grove Racing Mustang spun.
Zach Bates in the #10 Matt Stone Racing Camaro had to take evasive action through the gravel trap.
Payne was the hard charger early on. At the end of Lap 1, the #19 Grove Racing Mustang put a pass on the #7 Blanchard Racing Team Mustang at Turn 11.
That left Golding vulnerable to an attack from Mostert, though the former PremiAir Racing driver put his elbows up and held fourth.
On Lap 3, Payne passed Feeney at the penultimate turn to take second.
On Lap 7, the Safety Car was called when Jack Walls’ #11 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mustang spun at Turn 11 and beached in the gravel trap.
Racing resumed on Lap 10 with Kostecki heading Payne, Feeney, Golding, and Mostert.
There was drama almost immediately as Aaron Cameron spun the #7 Blanchard Racing Team Mustang at Turn 3, dropping him from seventh to 23rd.
Kostecki, Payne, Feeney, and Golding skipped away from fifth-placed Mostert, who had Waters and Brown hot on his heels.
The final few laps were uneventful at the front of the pack. Kostecki kept Payne at bay by a few car lengths while Feeney clinched the final podium place.
Behind them, the battle between Mostert, Waters, Wood, and Brown culminated in Feeney losing out to Wood.
Feeney tried to pass Waters at Turn 5 on the last lap but compromised his run to Turn 6 and gave up seventh to Wood.
This article first appeared on Speedcafe.com, a sister site to MotorRacing.com.