Ford’s Mustang in current generations has been making the transition from boulevard cruiser to bona fide sports activities automotive, and the seventh-generation ‘Stang revealed on Wednesday on the 2022 Detroit auto present seems set to lastly cement this with an intensive racing program that may embody a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The brand new Mustang is about to compete throughout a large spectrum of racing sequence, together with NASCAR, IMSA SportsCar Championship, and Australia’s Supercars sequence, in addition to in varied GT3 and GT4 competitions across the globe. With affirmation the Mustang will race at Le Mans, we will additionally add the World Endurance Championship to that checklist. Le Mans is the premier occasion on the WEC calendar, much like the 24 Hours of Daytona on the SportsCar Championship calendar, and has seen a Mustang compete in 1967 and 1997.
A brand new Mustang GT3 is being developed and will probably be eligible to compete within the WEC’s GT lessons as quickly as 2024, so the Mustang will not be chasing outright victory within the Hypercar class. The Mustang GT3 may also be the idea for the race automobiles competing within the GT lessons of the SportsCar Championship. This implies we’ll see it compete towards race automobiles based mostly on the likes of the Aston Martin Vantage, Chevrolet Corvette, Mercedes-Benz AMG GT, and Porsche 911.
Seventh-generation Ford Mustang race automotive household
Ford hasn’t mentioned whether or not it plans to subject automobiles instantly at Le Mans, or whether or not it would companion with a race workforce, much like its partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing for the GT supercar’s profitable run at Le Mans lately. We do know, nonetheless, that it’s going to run a manufacturing facility workforce fielding two of the Mustang GT3s within the SportsCar Championship’s GTD Professional class.
Ford additionally plans to supply the Mustang GT3 to buyer groups, that means we might see them compete in different GT3 competitions across the globe.
The race automotive is being developed in partnership with Multimatic, the Canadian motorsports and engineering firm that builds the GT for Ford, in addition to the more moderen Bronco DR racer. It’s going to run a singular model of the acquainted 5.0-liter V-8. The engine is being developed by Ford Efficiency and will probably be equipped by M-Sport, the British motorsport and engineering firm chargeable for current Ford rally automobiles, together with the Ford Puma-based automotive competing within the 2022 World Rally Championship.
2024 Ford Mustang GT3 race automotive
The Mustang GT3 may also characteristic unequal size double wishbone suspension entrance and rear, a rear-mounted transaxle gearbox, carbon-fiber physique panels, and naturally an aero bundle developed to fulfill GT3 guidelines.
Joey Hand, one of many class-winning drivers in Ford’s 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans marketing campaign, will function a take a look at and growth driver for this system, alongside his present NASCAR duties.
The Mustang GT3 is not the one new Mustang racer within the works. Ford has additionally introduced a Mustang Darkish Horse R that might probably compete in a brand new one-make sequence.
