After months of bitter words over the defection of Ford's best V8 Supercar team to Holden next year, the boss of Ford Australia has admitted he is sorry the relationship was allowed to hit rock bottom -- and wants to reassure fans that Ford is committed to staying in Australia's premier motorsport class.
After nine Holdens filled the top 10 positions at the Bathurst 1000, Marin Burela also admitted he had never met the boss of Triple 8 Racing, Roland Dane.
As evidenced by banners in race crowds (also pictured), blogs on the internet and countless emails to motorsport magazines and newspapers, Mr Burela has been copping the blame and anger from Ford fans since the announcement in late July of the defection of its most successful team next year -- even though the seeds for separation were sown before Burela took over as boss.
Triple 8 Racing had the sole Ford in the top 10 at Bathurst this year, is leading the 2009 V8 Supercar championship, and won the 2008 V8 Supercar championship.
Mr Burela says he understands how Ford fans feel and that he vows to make amends, but he also pointed out that the relationship between Ford and Triple 8 Racing had soured long before he arrived.
"First of all, number one, I was disappointed that prior to my arrival at Ford Australia 12 months ago that there was not a way to be able to resolve our differences," he said.
"And you know what, this is nothing new. It had been raging for a number of years. This wasn't something that happened in the last five minutes. This had been going on for some time."
He also distanced himself from the decision to cut Triple 8 Racing's financial sponsorship last year -- the same year it gave Ford a championship victory -- but nor would he criticise those who made that call.
"The decision [to withdraw financial sponsorship from Triple 8 Racing, among other teams, including longtime Ford hero team Dick Johnson Racing] was made before I arrived, that's all I will say."
That decision saw several Ford teams lose their 'FORD' windscreen banner. But Triple 8 went one step further and sold the advertising space where Ford's blue oval badge is on the grille and boot, and covered it with a cartoon image of a pig, for Hog's Breath Café.
Mr Burela said he believes the whole debacle could have been avoided.
"I would have loved for the Triple 8 team to have come and spoken to me so we could talk about things. But I never once met Roland Dane.
"I would have loved to have had a conversation with him. I have nothing but the utmost of respect for all of those people. Roland Dane has been a tremendous success in what he has done over the years, and his association with us through the team on many fronts has been very positive.
"Deep down, in all of this, I wish we had a way to have found a solution that could have met both parties' needs. I feel sorry to all our Ford fans, but we are where we are and we need to work out how we move forward."
At the crux of the breakdown was the colour of the Triple 8 Racing Falcons. They were painted silver and red, the colours of major team sponsor Vodaphone.
Ford said it had conducted research that showed viewers thought the car was a Holden because Holden's corporate colour is red.
Ford said Triple 8 agreed to not make the dominant colour on its race cars red. Triple 8 denied this was the case, and pointed out that even the factory-backed Falcons have other colours, including a spash of red.
Despite the soul-searching comments, Mr Burela didn't say whether Ford would work with Triple 8 Racing again.
"Well, our objective now is to go out there and beat Triple 8 and beat Holden Racing Team and be at the front."
Some industry observers -- and fans -- have questioned whether Ford was planning a slow exit out of the category. It supports financially only two teams, and four cars (Ford Performance Racing and Stone Brothers Racing). The remaining Ford teams get support in the form of free or heavily discounted body panels.
Despite winding back its involvement in V8 Supercars, Mr Burela says Ford plans to remain in the category.
"We are here to stay. There is no reason for us to change," he said. "But if we are here to stay we need to be on the podium. And we will be."
When asked about rumours that Ford wanted to get out of V8 Supercars to rid its 'blokey' image, he said there was room to promote both Ford's classy, European-sourced vehicles, as well as its performance vehicles.
"I think it would be intuitively wrong for us with our heritage in performance, not to be participating in motor racing.
"I don't see a withdrawal anytime in the near future. In fact, the person that moved us into motorsport very heavily, [the late Ford Australia boss] Geoff Polites, was a good friend of mine and a good colleague of mine and I have no reason to change that direction."
When asked why Ford's financial support was restricted to two teams, he said: "The way I see things, to me it's not a question of how many cars you have on the grid, it's the quality of the cars and the quality of the teams that we have there."
He also said he has a personal commitment to, and interest in, V8 Supercars.
"If I didn't want to be in V8 Supercars I wouldn't have flown back from a meeting in the United States to be there. You've no idea what I went through to get there. I travelled for a day and a half to get there under extreme conditions, diverting around the world because of problems with aircraft connections."
His Holden counterpart, Alan Batey, wasn't at Bathurst because he was still in the United States trying to shore up police car exports of the Holden Caprice. But Batey had attended Bathurst the previous three years in a row.
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