© Ford Motor Company
Ford GT Race Car Debuts
Ford debuted its new Ford GT based race car today at the legendary racing circuit in Le Mans, France and announced that Ford will return to the famous race in 2016. Long rumored since the debut of the Ford GT at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January, the exciting news came on the eve of the start of the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans.
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Two Teams, Four Cars
The factory-backed racing program will compete in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, with two teams and four cars operated by Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Ford’s current partner in the TUDOR USCC. The new Ford GT race car will make its competition debut next January at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the teams from both series will compete at Le Mans in 2016 with a total of four cars entered.
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LM GTE Pro Class
The new Ford GT race car is based on the production Ford GT and will compete in the LM GTE Pro class of WEC and in GTLM in the TUDOR USCC. While the driver lineup was not announced at this time, don’t be surprised to see veteran American drivers Scott Pruett and Joey hand at the top of the list, the current drivers for the CGRFS Ford EcoBoost prototype in TUDOR USCC. Ganassi has a history of drawing from its IndyCar and NASCAR teams for its endurance racing lineups, including the 2015 Rolex 24 winning team of Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson.
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Ultimate Endurance Race
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is considered the ultimate endurance race and in 1966 Ford not only won for the first time, but the Ford GT40 swept the podium on the way to winning the race four years in a row. “When the GT40 competed at Le Mans in the 1960s, Henry Ford II sought to prove Ford could beat endurance racing’s most legendary manufacturers,” said Bill Ford, executive chairman, Ford Motor Company. “We are still extremely proud of having won this iconic race four times in a row, and that same spirit that drove the innovation behind the first Ford GT still drives us today.”
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Chip Ganassi Racing
Ford’s racing partner, Chip Ganassi has won races and championships in many forms of racing, including the Indy 500, the Daytona 500 and the Rolex 24 at Daytona, but Ganassi has never competed at Le Mans. “We’ve won races and championships, but we’ve never run Le Mans,” said team owner Chip Ganassi. “When presented the opportunity to compete with the all-new Ford GT on the world’s biggest sports car stage, and on the 50th anniversary of one of the most storied victories in racing history, how could any race team not want to be part of that? Will it be a challenge? Absolutely, but we couldn’t be with a better partner than Ford.”
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New Technology
While the old adage is “Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday” Ford sees racing today as a way to develop new technologies that ultimately end up in production vehicles, such as aerodynamics, lightweight composites and EcoBoost engine technology. “As we developed the Ford GT, from the outset we wanted to ensure we had a car that has what it takes to return Ford to the world of GT racing,” said Raj Nair, Ford Motor Company group vice president, Global Product Development and chief technical officer. “We believe the Ford GT’s advances in aerodynamics, light-weighting and EcoBoost power will make for a compelling race car that can once again compete on a global stage.”
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Ford Racing Partners
Multimatic Motorsports, Roush Yates Engines, Castrol, Michelin, Forza Motorsport, Sparco, Brembo and CGRFS are all working with Ford on the Ford GT racing program. The race car has undergone extensive design and testing within Ford and Multimatic, with CGRFS providing input into the development and Roush Yates is supporting development of the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engine.
Ford GT Race Car
Ford GT Race Car
Ford GT Race Car
Ford GT Race Car
Ford GT Race Car
Ford GT Race Car
za pohvalu svaku rado očekujemo povratak Forda u sve svere sporta najbolja auto compani.i u LP1 u najaču klasu Lemana.sretno u pobjedama veliki ljubimac i poštovalac Forda i radujem se svakoj pobjedi Forda u WRC,BBc,Nascar u svakoj seriji….i svakoj novini Fordovih svih auta ….veliki pozdrav iz Travnika Bosna i Hercegovina