The Ford Mustang GT3 finally found Victory Lane in the 2025 Rolex 24, beating a Corvette across the line for the honors in one of endurance racing’s most prestigious events. It’s been anything but easy getting the Mustang GT3 to a win, though. The race car was first introduced for the 2024 racing season, and The Blue Oval went through its fair share of growing pains as it tried to bring the racer up to speed, quite literally. But now that it’s proved it has the guts to run with the leaders in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, its drivers are pleased to be a part of the Mustang GT3 program.
According to a report from Racer, Chris Mies, who was one of the drivers that shared the No. 65 Ford Mustang GT3 as it cruised to its Rolex 24 victory, was particularly pleased with his race car’s performance, especially given its struggles at the start of the 2024 season.
“It’s simply amazing,” Mies said of the development that went into Ford Mustang GT3 over the past year. “We came here exactly a year ago, leading the race back then, which was fantastic for a new car. But like everyone, we had some issues.”
Said issues included problems like parts literally coming off the Ford Mustang GT3 during races along with torque sensor issues that put the Mustangs at a disadvantage. The rear deck lid, in particular, often detached from the race car, prompting The Blue Oval to pursue a fix, which the FIA ultimately approved.
“The most obvious change is that the rear deck lid isn’t coming off anymore,” Mies said. “We figured out quite quickly where the problem came from – obviously from side drafting. But to be honest, in development or testing, when do you ever side draft, right? It never happens.”
He added, “But there have been things in the background and also on the team side, too. I must say this is probably the biggest improvement compared to last year. It just feels like we made another good step in terms of preparation.”
Comments
There’s always these growing pain issues with a new race car. Until as was said, it’s in actual competition, some of these annoying things are just unforeseen. The fact that they bounced back to win the event kind of says it all…at least for the moment. There were comments made from the drivers about the power the Corvette and BMW’s have, so we’ll have to see how that concern plays out over the season…
The Ford Mustang GT3 finally found Victory Lane in the 2025 Rolex 24, beating a Corvette across the line for the honors in one of endurance racing’s most prestigious events.
(Enough said)
How much longer will Ford be given a competitive edge over the competition? This has been going on since they entered GTD PRO with the Mustang.