Ford Performance is on fire. Fresh off the Ford Mustang GT3 victory in the GTD Pro class at the 2025 Rolex 24, The Blue Oval revealed plans to reenter prototype racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in 2027. However, for a while, Ford wasn’t interested in bringing an entry back to the prototype racing scene until fairly recently, instead prioritizing the Mustang in international motorsports.
In an interview with Daily Sportscar, Ford Performance head Mark Rushbrook explained that the automaker saw a greater benefit in Mustang racing efforts than in any other series, at least at first. That prompted Ford to funnel its resources and development toward the pony car-based race car rather than diverting its resources to the hypercar program right out of the gate.
“As we needed to make key decisions, it didn’t seem right for us, but what became clear in the strategy was to focus on the four pillars: racing Mustang globally, off-road racing, electric demonstrators and Formula 1,” Rushbrook told Daily Sportscar.
He added, “So we focused on racing Mustangs, with the seventh generation rolling out as a road car. It’s an icon. It took a lot of effort alongside doing a Raptor for Dakar, and demonstrators for Pikes Peak. So in sportscars, we were on the design and development of three brand new race car designs for Mustangs.”
But even though Ford Performance is gearing up for F1 and prototype racing, it’s not abandoning or scaling back its Mustang racing focus.
“I guess you could say that’s not behind us – it’s not!” Rushbrook said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do racing them, with more than 20 GT3s out there now, over 20 GT4s, we have a second batch of Dark Horse Rs in build. But it felt right to join prototypes now.”
During the offseason, The Blue Oval dumped plenty of resources into making the Ford Mustang GT3 as competitive as it could be ahead of the season-opening race at Daytona. And, considering that a Mustang ended up in Victory Lane, it worked out just fine.
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