KyraSage
This weekend, the biggest race in the world, the 92nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, kicks off and sixty years after unleashing the power of the Mustang to the world, Ford is back with the seventh generation Mustang to try and win it all.
Racing is inherently in the DNA of the Mustang. Only five months after its initial debut to the world, Ford entered it into the 1964 Tour de France de Automobile and they had a successful competitive debut. Since then, Ford’s fleet of global race cars has competed in NASCAR, NHRA, IMSA, Australian Supercar and Formula Drift.
Jim Farley, Ford Motor Company CEO, had this to say about their entry into Le Mans, “The Ford Mustang has raced in circuits across the world for decades, and now is the time for us to race our iconic coupe at the most important race in the world. Ford has a rich history at Le Mans dating back to the first race in 1923 and we are excited to return to the global stage in what promises to be one of the most exciting races of the modern era.”
Ford’s Le Mans history includes the iconic GT40 which took on and took down its European competitors for four consecutive years in the 1960’s. Then, in 2016, 50 years after the GT40 first won, the reborn Ford GT took the top step of the podium in the LMGTE Pro class.
The Mustang itself has raced at Le Mans, one entry in 1967 and two more in 1997, but 2024 marks the first time the Mustang will be taking with specific intent on the World Endurance Championship circuit. The longtime collaborators of Multimatic Motorsports and M-Sport have been working on the production of the Mustang with the team that’s being run by the successful Germany based Proton Competition.
Proton Competition will be fielding three Mustang GT3s among the almost two dozen LMGT3 Le Mans entrants, but will be maintaining their regular season FIA World Endurance Cup LMGT3 class driver lineups for two. The No. 77 will be driven by Ryan Hardwick, Ben Baker and Zacharie Robichon while the No. 88 will have Giorgio Roda, Dennis Olsen and Mikkel O. Pedersen behind the wheel. And, as announced last month, the No. 44 will be shared by Christopher Mies, John Hartshorne and Ben Tuck.
Off the track, the Mustang GTD, the road going version of the Mustang GT3 will be making its European debut and will be a focal point at Maison de Mustang inside Manufacturer Village. Maison de Mustang is a fan zone which will feature driver autograph sessions, merchandise and a racing simulator competition where fans will have the chance to win Mustang prizes.
“While Mustang GT3 is the pinnacle of our sports car racing around the world, it is only one part of a far broader strategy around Mustang racing that includes our recent Mustang Challenge Series as well as GT4 and much more besides,” Mark Rushbrook, Global Director, Ford Performance Motorsports, said. “We race to win and also to build our Ford Performance community, and our hope is that the fans at Le Mans get as much excitement from the off-track experiences as they get from attending the race itself. This is an exciting time to be a fan of Mustang.”
Excitingly, up to 1,000 fans will be able to participate in a Paul Swift Precision Driving Experience as passengers in nearby Arnage and can book this upon arrival at the track.
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