FORD MUSTANG GT3 DEBUT AT DAYTONA WAS EDUCATIONAL

By Brett Foote
January 30, 2024 1:17 pm courtesy of "fordauthority.com"

The Ford Mustang GT3 is just one of several new Dark Horse-based racers, but it was also the very first one to make its debut on the track at this past weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona. Things were looking up for that debut as recently as a couple of weeks ago, when the in-demand racer was performing quite well in practice, even though its prep time was a bit limited. However, as Ford Authority reported last week, IMSA officials slapped the Ford Mustang GT3 with a balance of performance (BoP) penalty consisting of a 33 pound increase in its minimum weight requirements following qualifying and the beginning of free practice sessions, which hampered expectations quite a bit. Now, with that race in the rear-view, FoMoCo views it as more of an educational session than anything else, it seems.

“We definitely learned a lot,” Ford Performance global motorsports director Mark Rushbrook told Sportscar365 following the race. “That’s the one thing about IMSA starting with the biggest race of the year, and starting the season with a brand new car. We had that experience in 2016 with the Ford GT. We know our issues, we have some ideas of how to fix them. There’s work to do but we will all work together, address those issues, and go racing. It’s nothing the team can’t address. In 2016, we learned a lot in the first race, we went away and addressed it, and later that season we won at Laguna Seca and Le Mans. There’s no reason why we can’t do the same again.”

These comments come after a bit of an up-and-down debut for the Ford Mustang GT3 at Daytona, as the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports car finished sixth in the GTD Pro class in spite of some bodywork issues and diffuser damage caused by an accident. Meanwhile, the No. 65 was retired due to an undisclosed mechanical issue toward the conclusion of the 24 hour race.

“The drivers were really happy with the handling and the balance,” Rushbrook added, refusing to blame the aforementioned BoP restrictions for the team’s mixed results. “BoP is BoP, and I don’t want to play that card, but we were there in contention until we had some of these issues.”