The Ford Mustang GT3 Race Program Is Getting Some Serious Talent
Two cars, four winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ford’s new factory racing program is stacked with domestic and international driving talent as a blend of new and familiar faces will represent the Blue Oval when it unleashes its new-for-2024 IMSA GTD Pro Mustang endurance team in January.
Run for Ford by longtime partner Multimatic Motorsports, the team will reunite its Ford GT factory trio of Joey Hand, Dirk Müller, and Harry Tincknell, and add DTM champion and overall Le Mans victor Mike Rockenfeller to helm its pair of Mustang GT3s across 10 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races.
“We’re thrilled to embark on this exciting endeavor and to put our 58 years of global Mustang racing heritage and performance to the test against some of the world’s greatest manufacturers,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director, Ford Performance Motorsports. “We want to welcome Joey and Dirk back to the Ford family after a great few years with the GT program. Combined with Harry’s four wins during the Ford GT program and Mike’s impressive racecraft and résumé, this puts us in a strong starting position in the Mustang GT3’s debut season.”
It’s a special reunion for Ford, Multimatic, and the veteran duo of Hand and Muller who, along with Sebastien Bourdais, brought Ford to victory lane at Le Mans in 2016 on the 50th anniversary of the brand’s first win at Le Mans.
“I’m super excited to finally announce this program and get going with it,” Hand said. “It’s been a long time coming – been working on this thing for over a year. I’m super thankful and proud to be involved in the early stages of testing the car. We’ve had it on-track a lot. I tell you, the first time I drove it, I really liked it. It’s one of those cars, for me, it just fits my style. I knew it right away. I think there are going to be a lot of great years of racing this car.”
Hand and Muller also shared a big win for Ford at the Rolex 24 At Daytona in 2017, site of the Mustang GT3’s official debut in competition in January. Having spent years as teammates with BMW and Ford, it was only natural to reignite a proven combination in GTD Pro.
“I’m happy, honored and grateful to be part of this fantastic Mustang GT3 program with Ford Performance and Multimatic,” Müller said. “We’ve been working on the new car for a while now and I can’t wait to get out there and start racing. I’m really happy to be back with my buddy Joey (Hand); we are already great friends and we’ve enjoyed a lot of success together. I can’t thank Ford and Multimatic enough for this opportunity. Daytona is suddenly just around the corner so let’s get going.”
For Tincknell, who raced Ford GTs for the company in Europe, Multimatic has become a second home, which made his assignment to the new Mustang GT3 program in IMSA a no-brainer for all involved.
“I’m very excited to be back with Ford where the family feeling runs right through the organization,” Tincknell said. “I am working with my race engineer from the Ford GT days and many of the crew are old friends from that time and subsequent Multimatic race programs.
‘I’m looking forward to driving with Rocky (Mike Rockenfeller). When I was racing in European Formula 3 in 2013, German DTM was the headline event and that was the year that Rocky won the title. Now, competing at the same level as him is pretty surreal when I think back to those days.”
Rockenfeller has stood atop endurance racing highest peaks with Audi’s former factory LMP1 effort where he captured a pair of Le Mans victories, and with his expertise in everything from prototypes to NASCAR Cup cars, his talents were coveted for Ford’s resumption of its storied GT battles against old stalwarts like Corvette, Ferrari, and Porsche, and more recent challengers in Acura, Aston Martin, BMW, Lamborghini, Lexus, McLaren, and Mercedes-AMG.
“To have the opportunity to join Ford at this point in my career is fantastic and I’m excited to be part of a new program with a new car,” Rockenfeller said. “I drove the Mustang GT3 at Sebring a couple of months ago and I have raced against the Ford GT many times so I know I am joining a very strong organization.”
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