Ford Mustang GT3 to compete at 24 Hours of Daytona in 2024

MANILA: In 2024, Ford will make its comeback in global sports car racing, led by the Mustang. Ford Performance recently revealed plans for the all-new Mustang GT3 race car, which will join the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) 2024 race season, including the 24 Hours of Daytona.

The new Mustang effort will be a collaboration between Ford Performance and Multimatic Motorsports. It will be composed of a two-car, factory-backed IMSA GTD Pro works team managed by Multimatic, as well as customer Mustang race cars for the GTD class starting at Daytona in 2024.

“Mustang was born to race from the start and we’re thrilled to introduce the GT3 version to compete head-to-head against some of the greatest manufacturers in the world. With 58 years of global endurance racing heritage, including NASCAR and Australian Supercars today, we are ready to take Mustang to the next level of global performance,” Ford Performance Motorsports Global Director Mark Rushbrook stated.

The all-new Mustang GT3 race car will be powered by a Ford 5.0-liter Coyote-based V8 engine built by world-championship-winning team M-Sport of England.

The two organizations have a long history of working together in the FIA World Rally Championship. Recently, they collaborated on the creation of the Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1, which finished 1-3-5 in its first race at the Monte Carlo Rally.

“We are delighted to be broadening our relationship with Ford and extending it into the racing world after a very successful 25 years together in the World Rally Championship, which is once again delivering stunning results with the Puma Hybrid Rally1. M-Sport has a wealth and depth of circuit racing knowledge and expertise, particularly from our GT3 program that used an M-Sport developed V8 engine for GT3 that powered us to victory in the 2020 Bathurst 12-hour race and 2019 1000km of Paul Ricard,” M-Sport Owner Malcom Wilson said.

The new Mustang GT3 race car will have bespoke front and rear short-long arm suspension, a rear-mounted transaxle gearbox, carbon fiber body panels, and an aero package specially made to meet GT3 requirements.

Ford and Multimatic will create factory-backed and customer-ready Mustang GT3 units available to teams from the start of the 2024 season.

The 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours GTE Pro class winner Joey Hand will be one of the program’s test drivers, in addition to continuing his work as a development driver and coach for Ford Performance. He will also drive a Rick Ware Racing Ford Mustang in six NASCAR Cup road course races this year.

“It’s awesome to be on the ground floor of another amazing sports car racing program with Ford. As much as I like to compete and win on the track, I also enjoy being part of the development of new race vehicles like this Mustang.  We did a lot of testing with the Ford GT program, so it will be great to be working again with a lot of the same people at Ford and Multimatic as we get this car ready for competition,” Hand stated.

Although the Mustang GT3 for IMSA is new, Ford and Multimatic reaffirmed that the Mustang GT4 customer race program will continue in the coming years, with a new Mustang GT4 set to debut in the 2023 season.

“It’s important to us to continue to support the Mustang GT4 effort as well,” Rushbrook said. “We’ve had a lot of success both here and in Europe with the current Mustang GT4, and we look forward to being able to provide our customers with a brand new car for competition in the GT4 category starting next season.  We’ll have more to say on that in the near future.”

Photo from Ford

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