Ford finally has made the announcement we’ve all been waiting for ever since the new Ford GT supercar made its debut at the Detroit auto show (if not before): The company will campaign a racing version of the new GT and will return to Le Mans for the 2016 race.
-The word came in a press announcement at Le Mans featuring Ford executive chairman Bill Ford, president and CEO Mark Fields, group vice president of global product development Raj Nair—all wearing matching Ford GT sweaters. Also on hand for the event was Chip Ganassi, who will lead Ford’s racing effort.
-The new Ford GT race car will make its on-track debut at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in January, and it will compete in a full schedule in the FIA World Endurance Championship and TUDOR United SportsCar Championship (TUSC). Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates will run both four-car factory teams. Drivers have not yet been announced.
-Other partners include Multimatic Motorsports, Roush Yates Engines, Michelin, Brembo, Castrol, Sparco, Forza Motorsport, and CGRFS.
-Just like the road car, the GT racer will be powered by a mid-mounted twin-turbocharged EcoBoost V-6, an engine that has seen racing action since 2014 in TUSC. At Le Mans, the Ford GT will compete in the LM GTE Pro class. The competition version of the GT has already been spied testing last month at Calabogie Motorsports Park near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
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2016 marks the 50th anniversary of Ford’s historic 1-2-3 win at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans, achieved after Henry Ford II embarked on a campaign to beat Ferrari at the marquee motorsports event. After the Ford GT40 swept that event, the company followed up with victories in 1967, 1968, and 1969, after which it redirected its competition energies elsewhere.
-Now Ford is coming back. Referring to the new Ford GT, Bill Ford said, “This vehicle, from the very beginning, was born to race.” He might have added that it was born to race at Le Mans.
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from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/1KKCqzg
via Agya
