Back in May, three weeks before the new Ford GT Le Mans race car was unveiled to the world, it was already out on track turning laps in preparation for its 2016 debut at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.
On hand at the test were Raj Nair, Ford group vice president and chief technical officer, Ford Global Product Development, and Dave Pericak, director, Ford Performance.
Ford’s GT race program will kick off in January, fielding two cars in the TUDOR United SportsCar championship and two in the FIA World Endurance Championship - all four running full seasons under the Chip Ganassi Racing banner.
“By no means does this mean we can all go home and wait until it’s time to go out on race day,” said Pericak after the test was completed without any hiccups. “We have a lot in front of us to do and a short amount of time to do it … but to come out of the chute where we are just tells us we’re going to have one hell of a race car on race day. This is all state-of-the-art technology, whether we’re talking about engine technology or EcoBoost – who would’ve thought we were going to go to Le Mans running a six-cylinder EcoBoost engine? Unheard of. We have some secrets. This is a secret weapon, and we are not ready to show the world our secrets yet. We’re going to wait until race day to do that.”
“(Ford GT) means a lot of really important things for the company,” added Nair. “First, it’s celebrating our heritage … but it also, for present-day Ford, highlights our capabilities, whether it’s the innovations with what we’re doing with EcoBoost engines, the innovations we’re doing in lightweighting vehicles, or the innovations we’re doing with aerodynamics. It’s seeing all of those tools and technologies in the production vehicle taken to their maximum limit on a car like the Ford GT. It’s a showcase of technology, a showcase of innovation, our ability and our passion for the sport as well.”
