As the race teams prepare for the epic 24 Hours of Le Mans race, June 13 – 14, Ford announced today that they will be returning to its GT racing roots. Rumors have been swirling around the possibility of Ford returning to Le Mans with their latest supercar. Now we can lay those rumors to rest because Ford is working the GT into a full factory-backed racing effort in 2016 with Chip Ganassi Racing. Two teams and four cars will compete in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and the Tudor United SportsCar Championship in 2016, starting with the Rolex 24 at Daytona next January.
Both the production car and race car will arrive in 2016 to mark the 50th anniversary of Ford GT race cars placing 1-2-3 at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The new GT was born to be a race car and is be powered by Ford’s most powerful 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engine. Ford is proud to showcase the GT’s advancements in lightweight technology and aerodynamics on the race track and on the open road.
Chip Ganassi Racing, who has teams racing IndyCar, NASCAR, and Tudor United SportsCar Championship series, has been working with Ford the past year and half to develop four cars to compete in the Le Mans GT Endurance class (LM GTE Pro). While Chip Ganassi Racing has 17 major championships and 160 wins, they are ready to rise up to the challenge of winning a Le Mans – and endurance they have yet to conquer.
Racing at Le Mans in 2016 would be no coincidence, coming as it does 50 years after Ford’s GT40 Mk. II won the world’s biggest sports-car race with Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon piloting the winning car. They lead a GT40 sweep of the top-three finishing positions and capped Henry Ford II’s well-documented feud with Enzo Ferrari. Ford went to repeat its victory at Le Mans in 1967, 1968, and 1969.
Ford is coming back to GT racing and It’s certainly a grand way to celebrate 2016’s 50th anniversary of the company’s first Le Mans overall win.
