Le Mans, France - Ford Performance Motorsports have unveiled their new Mustang Dark Horse-based race car that will again see the blue oval compete in the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Mustang GT3 was revealed during the centenary celebrations of the famous endurance race and will be gunning for victory in the FIA GT3 category.
Ford’s most recent triumph at Le Mans was in 2016 with the Ford GT.
“Ford and Le Mans are bound together by history. And now we’re coming back to the most dramatic, most rewarding and most important race in the world,” said Jim Farley, CEO, Ford Motor Company. “It is not Ford versus Ferrari anymore. It is Ford versus everyone. Going back to Le Mans is the beginning of building a global motorsports business with Mustang, just like we are doing with Bronco and Raptor off-road.”
It boasts a new livery courtesy of Troy Lee, recognised as one of the world’s premier motorsports designers in his first foray with Ford.
It also coincides with new, global Ford Performance branding – a cleaner, simplified look that will now be featured on all its racing vehicles.
For the project, Ford has extended their relationship with longtime partners Multimatic and M-Sport. Multimatic, builders of the Ford GT, were also involved in the Ford GT race program and will help build and support the Mustang GT3s, while longtime World Rally Championship partner and two-time championship winning team M-Sport will assemble the Ford Performance-developed 5.4-litre Coyote-based V8 engines.
The Mustang GT3 features a short-long arm suspension, rear-mounted transaxle gearbox, carbon fiber body panels and a unique aero package developed to meet GT3 targets.
“I know we’ll all be as thrilled as Ford fans when Mustang begins racing at the highest levels of GT racing in 2024, ” said Mark Rushbrook, Global Director, Ford Performance Motorsports.
Before going to Le Mans next year, the Mustang GT3 will compete in various GT3 series across the globe in the hands of customer teams.
The first customer team is Proton Competition. Based in Ehingen, Germany, Proton intends to campaign a pair of Mustang GT3s in the FIA World Endurance Championship, starting in 2024.
Ford Performance will also field a two-car factory race program with Mustang GT3 in IMSA’s GTD Pro class. This will be managed by Multimatic Motorsports and start at the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona.
IOL Motoring