Ford will return to
France in 2016 to mark the 50th anniversary of Ford GT race cars placing 1-2-3
at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Ford GT will compete in the Le Mans GT
Endurance class for professional teams and drivers (LM GTE Pro).
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). Both series teams intend to compete
with a four-car effort at Le Mans. Drivers will be announced later.
Set to deliver more than 12 new performance
vehicles by 2020, Ford Performance will leverage its racing efforts and
expertise to speed innovations on dedicated performance models and performance
parts in order to more quickly iterate the latest technologies that can
ultimately be applied to the full Ford vehicle line-up.
These include state-of-the-art aerodynamics to
deliver high levels of downforce for improved stability with minimal drag,
advanced lightweight composites featuring carbon fibre for an exceptionally
rigid but light chassis, and the power and efficiency of EcoBoost technology.
Joining Ford in this project are Multimatic
Motorsports, Roush Yates Engines, Castrol, Michelin, Forza Motorsport, Sparco,
Brembo and CGRFS. The race car has undergone extensive design and testing
within Ford and Multimatic, with CGRFS providing input into the development.
Roush Yates is supporting development of the 3.5-litre EcoBoost V6 – Ford
claims it is the most powerful EcoBoost production engine ever.
The 3.5-litre EcoBoost V6 engine debuted in
the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship in 2014. Since then, Ford, with CGRFS,
has captured significant overall wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring and Rolex 24 At
Daytona. Besides great success in sports cars, Ganassi race teams achieved
major victories in the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 and Indianapolis 500.
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