Ford has a long history in motorsport and now is prepared to continue that heritage.

Ford Mustang, the iconic sports car that created the pony car segment, will lead Ford’s return to global sports car racing as Ford Performance prepares a new GT3 race car for competition in 2024.

Ford Performance revealed plans for its all-new Mustang GT3 race car that will compete in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) 2024 race season, including the 24 Hours of Daytona.

The new Mustang effort, announced in advance of this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, will be a joint program between Ford Performance and long-time racing collaborator Multimatic Motorsports. It will feature both a two-car factory-backed IMSA GTD Pro works team managed by Multimatic, as well as customer Mustang race cars for the GTD class starting at Daytona in 2024.

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The new Mustang GT3 racer will be powered by a Ford 5.0-liter Coyote-based V8 engine developed by Ford Performance and built by long-time racing collaborator and world championship winning team, M-Sport of Cumbria, England.

The two organizations have a rich history in the FIA World Rally Championship and recently collaborated on the development and preparation of the Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1, which finished 1-3-5 in its debut race at the Monte Carlo Rally this past weekend.

The race-specific powerplant will continue the heritage of high performance naturally aspirated V8s in the Mustang platform. The engine will carry the heart and soul of the world-renowned Ford Coyote® and have performance and packaging modifications to make it championship ready for world class GT3 endurance racing.

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The new Mustang GT3 race car will feature bespoke Short-Long Arm suspension front and rear, rear-mounted transaxle gearbox, carbon fiber body panels, as well as a unique aero package developed to meet GT3 targets.

Ford and Multimatic will make both factory-backed and customer-ready GT3 Mustangs available to teams from the start of the 2024 season.

Although the Mustang GT3 for IMSA is new, Ford and Multimatic confirmed that the successful Mustang GT4 customer race program will continue into the future, with a new Mustang GT4 expected to debut in the 2023 season.