The Ford Mustang Dark Horse based Mustang GT3 has spearheaded The Blue Oval’s latest campaign in the IMSA series, turning heads both on and off track. In fact, the Mustang GT3 is one of the more highly sought-after customer race cars on the market thanks to its performance in endurance racing throughout the 2024 season. Joey Hand, IMSA veteran and Ford factory driver, has been offering his expertise to those customer teams, helping them coax every bit of speed they can out of their Mustang racers.
As per a report from Sportscar365, Hand is so far enjoying new position with Ford Performance. Hand has been, well, lending a hand (no pun intended) to get them up to speed with the Mustang GT3, all while fulfilling his duties as driver of the No. 66 Mustang GT3 in the Michelin Endurance Cup. Simply put, he’s intimately familiar with the Mustang GT3 and is more than happy to help customer teams out as they continue making friends with the race cars, helping them through the testing phase and other on-track ventures.
“This program was built with customers in mind, to have customer cars,” Hand said in an interview with Sportscar365. “It’s great to have factory cars and all that but a big part of the Mustang GT3 is going to be the customer cars.”
He added, “As more and more customers [arrive], it’s already being talked about me helping out on their initial tests and trying to do the same thing where I can get in there and accelerate the curve a little bit. I’m a race car driver but I also see what goes on with the cars a lot too.”
Hand certainly knows his way around a racetrack, and not just in Mustang GT3 machinery. He often competes for various Ford backed teams in the NASCAR Cup Series. In fact, he narrowly missed out on a victory on the Chicago streets last year, winding up fourth after battling it out with the leaders.
Comment
Joey’s a great driver and a great asset. It’s smart that Ford Performance is using his skills as an added customer benefit. I would surely love to have a pro drive my Mustang around my home track and offer a critique!