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| The new Ford GT will race in LMGT Pro |
Ford has just announced their new race car for the 2016 season. The car is based on the all-new Ford GT supercar which was unveiled in January. The production car and race car will arrive in 2016 and will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ford GT race cars coming 1-2-3 at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ford then went on to repeat that victory at Le Mans in 1967, 1968 and 1969.
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| The original GT40 mk1 |
Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Company said “When the GT40 competed at Le Mans in the 1960s, Henry Ford II sought to prove Ford could beat endurance racing’s most legendary manufacturers we are still extremely proud of having won this iconic race four times in a row, and this is the same spirit that drove the innovation behind the first Ford GT still drives us today.”
Ford has a busy programme lined up for 2016. They will run a full season in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. It debut will be at The Daytona Rolex 24 hrs.
The new Ford GT race car will run the full 2016 schedules of the FIA World Endurance Championship and TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, making its competition debut in January 2016 in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Florida. The two Ford teams will be operated by Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS). However their main target will be returning to Le Mans so both series teams intend to compete with a four-car effort. Drivers have yet to be announced.
The new car will be built to meet the new 2016 LM GT Pro regulations. At first glance the rear diffuser looks massive, but maybe this will meet the new regulations.It will be s test bed for the company’s aerodynamics and lightweight carbon fibre construction. Power comes from a new twin-turbocharged Ford EcoBoost® V6, making it the most powerful EcoBoost production engine ever.
Ford tell us that “The all-new Ford GT serves as the pinnacle product of the new Ford Performance group, a division dedicated to providing innovation through performance.”
They will certainly get a great reception when they arrive back at La Sarthe!
