The Next Ford Mustang Is Going GT3 Racing

It seems Ford couldn’t keep away from top-line GT racing very long. It’s not much over two years since the Ford GT racing programme (below) ceased, but already, the Blue Oval has announced its next sports car racing project. With LM GTE in decline and set to cease being a thing fairly soon, the endeavour will instead involve the GT3 rulebook.

Ford also has just the thing for a GT3 transformation - the impending seventh-generation ‘S650’ Mustang. The racing car will be jointly developed between the Ford Performance and Canadian firm Multimatic, which developed and built both the GT road and racing cars.

Under the bonnet will be a special version of the Coyote V8, re-engineered and built in the UK by M Sport. The Cumbria-based outfit has a long history with Ford and rallying, currently running the Puma WRC Sebastien Loeb steered to victory in Monte Carlo a few weeks ago. It’s also no stranger to GT3 stuff, having been in charge of preparing Bentley Continental GT3 machinery for years now.

For now, we’ve only seen a teaser image that reveals little other than a typically giant GT3 rear wing. Ford has at least revealed a handful of technical details, confirming it’ll have bespoke ‘short-long arm’ (unequal length) double wishbone suspension front and rear, a transaxle gearbox and carbon fibre body panels.

It’ll be beaten to the punch by an all-new Mustang GT4 (existing car pictured above), set to arrive in time for the 2023 season. The GT3 on the other hand will be ready to race in 2024, making its debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona that year. From the off, the car will race with factory backing and via customer teams.
Speaking about the incoming racer, Ford Performance Motorsports global director Mark Rushbrook said:

“Mustang was born to race from the start and we’re thrilled to introduce the GT3 version to compete head-to-head against some of the greatest manufacturers in the world. With 58 years of global endurance racing heritage, including NASCAR and Australian Supercars today, we are ready to take Mustang to the next level of global performance.”