Ford Returns To Sports Car Racing

[photo credit IMSA]

By Jack Webster & Eddie LePine

After Christmas, race fans from around the world are going to be getting a great delayed gift – the return of the Ford factory to international sports car competition. The new Ford GT, which in the US will compete in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the GTLM class, will make its competition debut at the 2016 running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The car was on hand at Daytona this week for its first laps in public at Daytona International Speedway, during the IMSA open test session for its 2016 competitors. The car looked great and this season promises to be one of the best in many years.

[photo credit IMSA]

Ford GT [photo credit IMSA]

[photo credit IMSA]

[photo credit IMSA]

The Ford GT will be racing in all of the rounds of the IMSA series in 2016 and if you haven’t already done so, you should make your plans to get to Daytona this year for the Rolex 24.

In addition to racing in the US in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the Ford GT will also be entered in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the entire FIA-WEC series.

There is a lot of excitement about this new car which will be fielded by the very capable Chip Ganassi race organization. Drivers have not yet been officially announced for both IMSA and the FIA-WEC, but four look pretty locked in: Joey Hand, Richard Westbrook, Ryan Briscoe and Dirk Muller. In addition, to round out the driving duties for both IMSA and the FIA-WEC the following drivers have been mentioned more than once: Billy Johnson and Scott Maxwell (who both did a lot of the testing on the car), Scott Dixon, Sebastien Bourdais, Marino Franchitti, Stefan Muecke, Olivier Pla, and Nicki Thiim. Regardless of who finally gets selected, the Ford program looks to be extremely strong.

2016 could be a stellar year for GT racing worldwide and the Ford GT program is a welcome addition. Ford vs. Ferrari vs. Porsche vs. Corvette vs. BMW. Who could ask for anything more?

January can’t get here soon enough for us.

Eddie LePine & Jack Webster

Jack Webster has been shooting motorsports since the early 1970’s, covering Formula One, CanAm, F5000, TransAm, GrandAm and American Le Mans races, among others. In addition to his photography, he has also worked on racing teams, both in IMSA and IndyCar, so has a complete knowledge of the inner workings of motorsport. Both his photography and writing can be seen here on racingnation.com. Eddie LePine has been involved in motorsports for over 30 years as photographer, columnist, and driver. Eddie also is now a retired racer (well, retired unless a good ride pops up). You can usually find Eddie in the paddock area, deep in conversation with a driver.

racingnation.com

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