It’s not always the case that an automotive CEO is a car guy or woman. Even rarer is that the CEO is also an avid racer. One such case is Ford CEO Jim Farley. (Another is Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda.)
Farley has been racing classic cars for well over a decade, including iconic Fords like the GT40 and the Ford-powered 427 Cobra. He has described GT40 racing as his form of yoga.
However, he will soon be driving a modern Mustang GT4 in the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, one of the pre-events for the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona scheduled later this month.
Sportscar365 was the first to note that Farley is on the list for this weekend’s race at Florida’s Daytona International Speedway. It will be Farley’s first participation in an IMSA sanctioned race.
Farley, driving the No. 98 car for the Multimatic Motorsports team, will be one of 24 entries, nine of which will be LMP3 cars and the remainder GT4 cars. The GT4 cars compete in a special Grand Sport X (GSX) class.
Other GSX entrants include the Aston Martin Vantage GT4, BMW M4 GT4, Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R, Mercedes-Benz AMG GT4 and Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport.
The VP Racing SportsCar Challenge begins on January 20th with two practice sessions, followed by qualifying on January 21st and two races on January 22nd. The 24 Hours of Daytona takes place the weekend of January 28th.