The Blue Oval Will Rejoin the WeatherTech Championship in 2024
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Ford has officially taken the covers off the Mustang GT3 that will compete in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship starting in 2024.
Based on the all-new 2024 Mustang Dark Horse performance street car, the Mustang GT3 was unveiled today at Le Mans, France, on the eve of the centennial anniversary running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ford Performance announced at the 2022 Rolex 24 At Daytona that it would be returning to the top levels of global sports car racing with the Mustang GT3, but today’s showing was the first public glimpse of the race car. It features a bold, colorful look from renowned motorsports designer Troy Lee.
As announced at Daytona in 2022, Ford is partnering with Multimatic Motorsports for a two-car factory effort in the WeatherTech Championship’s GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class starting in 2024. Ford is also expected to make the Mustang GT3 available to customer teams competing in the GT Daytona (GTD) class.
It will mark the blue oval’s return to WeatherTech Championship competition for the first time since the Ford GT program that raced in the former GT Le Mans (GTLM) class from 2016-2019 and won 13 times, including back-to-back victories at the Rolex 24 in 2017 and ’18. WeatherTech Championship drivers Joey Hand, Sebastien Bourdais and Dirk Mueller also guided a Ford GT to the GTE class victory at Le Mans in 2016, 50 years after the fabled Ford GT’s overall win at the French endurance classic.
Ford Performance extended its relationship with two longtime partners in Multimatic and M-Sport for the Mustang GT3 project. Multimatic, builder of the Ford GT, is helping to build and support the Mustang GT3, while longtime World Rally Championship partner M-Sport will assemble the Ford Performance-developed 5.4-liter, Coyote-based V-8 engine.
“For a project like the Mustang GT3, we turned to two of our most trusted partners in the motorsports world to help bring this vehicle and program together,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director, Ford Performance Motorsports. “I know we’ll all be as thrilled as Ford fans when Mustang begins racing at the highest levels of GT racing in 2024.”