Ford Performance has a hell of a history at Le Mans, and The Blue Oval added to that legacy on June 15th through 16th, 2024. Not only did all three of its Ford Mustang GT3 race cars complete the grueling endurance race, one scored a podium finish in the LMGT3 division with a second Mustang in hot pursuit.
The No. 88 Mustang GT3, tag-teamed by Dennis Olsen, Giorgio Roda, and Mikkel O. Pedersen, crossed the line in third, bouncing back from early hardship. Olsen, who had control in the first stint, gained 13 positions in the first hour alone, and his teammates had no problem keeping the No. 88 Mustang on pace with the leaders for the rest of the event.
“Today’s podium performance shows that Mustang can come and compete on the global stage against the best sports cars in the world,” said Mark Rushbrook, Global Director of Ford Performance, in a statement. “It is such a fantastic feeling to be able to do it in the first outing for Mustang at Le Mans.”
He added, “It’s a great testament to our company, our employees and all our fans who are celebrating Mustang’s 60th anniversary this year and all the great partners we have with Proton Competition, M-Sport and Multimatic Motorsports. We’re racing and winning all around the world, but to have a podium here at Le Mans is such a special moment.”
The No. 44 Mustang, driven by Christopher Mies, John Hartshorne, and Ben Tuck, brought home a fourth-place result. The No. 77 Mustang of Ryan Hardwick, Ben Barker, and Zacharie Robichon did not perform as well at Le Mans, but was able to advanced to the Hyperpole in qualifying, the first time a Mustang GT3 race car has done so.
“It wasn’t a win but a third-place podium, followed by a fourth place and total reliability gives us a lot to be happy about. We’ve engineered this car over the past 18 months and run it since Daytona. We’ve had ups and downs but when we ran at Le Mans last Sunday, I knew that it was going to be good,” said Larry Holt, the Executive Vice President of Multimatic Special Vehicle Operations Group.
The podium finish was a welcome one for Ford Performance, which has been struggling since the start of the 2024 season. The mandated torque sensors have proved particularly difficult to work with, limiting the power in the Mustang GT3 under certain conditions, although safe to say that Ford has successfully turned things around.
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Comments
Congrats all! Quite an accomplishment considering the newness of the cars, and the early issues that developed. Keep it going!
It was great to see Ford Mustang being competitive at Le Mans.