Ford is planning a strong return to global motor racing

Ford Performance is preparing a new GT3 race car for competition by 2024. The plan revealed recently is for the new Mustang GT3 which will compete in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) 2024 race season, including the 24 Hours of Daytona.

The new Mustang effort will be a joint programme between Ford Performance and the racing partner Multimatic Motorsports.

Multimatic Motorsports is the competition arm of Multimatic Engineering which was founded in 1992, the team has competed in the Firestone Firehawk Series, Motorola Cup, IMSA GT Championship, American Le Mans Series, Grand-Am Cup, Rolex Sports Car Series, Michelin Pilot Challenge, FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a very strong racing pedigree.

Ford Performance Motorsports has a long heritage of endurance racing, including NASCAR and Australian Supercars and will introduce the GT3 version to compete head-to-head against some of the greatest manufacturers.

The hope is that this partnership with Multimatic will provide championship-level race success for Ford and its customers.

The new Mustang GT3 race car will be powered by a Ford 5.0L Coyote-based V8 engine developed by Ford Performance and built by long-time racing collaborator and world championship winning team, M-Sport of Cumbria, England.

These two organisations have a rich history in the FIA World Rally Championship and recently collaborated on the development and preparation of the Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1, which finished 1-3-5 in its debut race at the Monte Carlo Rally recently.

M-Sport has a wealth and depth of circuit racing knowledge and expertise, particularly from the GT3 programme that used an M-Sport developed V8 engine for the GT3 that powered to victory in the 2020 Bathurst 12-hour race.

A recent engine project has seen M-Sport become the official British Touring Car Championship engine supplier which also uses Ford engine architecture.

M-Sport are reported saying they are excited about working directly with Ford Performance and Multimatic on the Mustang GT3 and will be working very hard, leaving no stone unturned as they join forces to fight for more race victories.

The new Mustang GT3 race car will feature bespoke Short-Long Arm suspension front and rear, rear-mounted transaxle gearbox, carbon fibre body panels, as well as a unique aero package developed to meet GT3 targets.

Ford and Multimatic will make both factory-backed and customer-ready GT3 Mustangs available to teams from the start of the 2024 season.

Although the Mustang GT3 for IMSA is brand new, Ford and Multimatic confirmed that a successful Mustang GT4 customer race program will continue, with a new Mustang GT4 expected to debut sometime in the 2023 season.

August 2022