Even though the Ford Mustang isn’t a new name in Le Mans racing, it hasn’t been to the famous French endurance race in a while. The Mustang won its last race at Circuit de la Sarthe almost 25 years ago, but it will be back at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2019. We bring in Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford, to talk about some exciting things that will happen as the new Mustang starts racing around the world in many motorsports events. Ford said the following year that the seventh-generation S650 Mustang would be racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A factory team previously ran the mid-engined GT, but customer GT3 teams will drive the Mustangs. Farley said that Ford is doing what Porsche does by putting a lot of money into customer racing. Ford wants to use Porsche’s projects more because they make it easy for people who want to race to get behind the wheel of a real race car. It also makes sense because the Mustang has always given fans easy access to speed and power. On Friday, Proton Competition in Germany became the first Mustang GT3 customer team to be shown off. In 2024, race cars built on the Mustang Dark Horse will be used in the FIA World Endurance Championship in Europe and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the United States. With the help of Multimatic and M-Sport, the car was made. M-Sport will make 5.4-liter V-8 engines that are based on the Coyote. The Mustang GT3s will also have body parts made of carbon fibre, transmissions with transaxles, unique short-long-arm suspension settings, and aero designs made for racing. Ford also showed off a new Troy Lee Designs car paint job at today’s event, but teams will likely use paint jobs that work best for their sponsors and fans. Check out that powerful wing, too. In the GT3 class, Ferrari, Porsche, and the Chevrolet Corvette made right next door, are all strong contenders. The start of a new racing plan for the Mustang comes at an exciting time, especially since the Chevy Camaro, Dodge Challenger, and Dodge Charger will no longer be made after this year. The Mustang is from a new age and will also be an essential part of many motorsports projects. Ford plans to use the S650 quite a bit. Farley has yet to say how much a new Mustang GT3 race car will cost. The 2017 Porsche 911 GT3 R costs more than $565,000. Ford said earlier this year that it would return to Formula One with a new Red Bull-Ford Powertrains partnership. The two companies’ contracts started this year and will end at the end of the Formula One season in 2030. In the video for this story, you can listen to us talk about the upcoming Ford sports-car race season. MotorTrend+ and the MotorTrend TV station will again be the ONLY PLACES IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA TO WATCH LE MANS. As the official presenter of the 2023 Le Mans race, MotorTrend+ will give fans access to the whole 24-hour event in a way that has never been done before. This includes training and qualifying on June 7 and the start of the race at 9 a.m. ET (6 a.m. PT) on June 10. After a full day of heated battles on the track, the green flag will also be a part of it. MotorTrend+ members will also be able to watch 16 opponents’ dash cam streams and other unique shows before and during the Le Mans weekend.
