Opinion: Ford’s Return Proves Sports Car Racing Is Where To Be In 2016

There will be a major press conference at Le Mans on Friday, and if the rumours swirling around the paddock are anything to go by – and they usually are – a formal announcement from the Ford Motor Company will signify their intention to join the ranks of major manufacturers going sports car racing at the highest level in 2016.

Whilst the Detroit-based group aren’t going to be dipping their toe into the hotly-contested prototype waters for the moment, they’re instead taking the next best step and entering a GT machine in the highly-competitive Grand Touring class in two different series’, taking on the likes of Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin, BMW and Chevrolet. A tough battleground just got even tougher.

According to leaked details, American powerhouse Chip Ganassi Racing (with support from Roush Yates engine builders) will run the Ford program, which will consist of two full-time entries in the FIA World Endurance Championship and two more in the United Sports Car Series, the North American series that was formed when the American Le Mans Series and Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series merged to begin the 2014 season.

Obviously, Ford have seen the other big manufactures battling it out on racetracks in Europe and America and wanted to be a part of it. That’s no surprise, given the emergence of international sports car racing, particularly the World Endurance Championship. It’s where manufacturers want to be because it’s a cheaper alternative than Formula One, and because so much of what is learned on the track can be applied to road cars. That’s the beauty of sports car racing, and why manufacturers can justify budgets to their stakeholders. It’s research and development, and it’s prestigious.

Ford wants to get in and win the big races like Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring, and you can’t blame them. Anyone who’s seen even a snippet of the World Endurance Championship races at Silverstone and Spa this year knows how good the racing has been. It’s the perfect advertising for would-be manufacturers. How could you not want to be a part of that? Ford will be right in the thick of it, sending four cars to Le Mans in 2016.

Choosing Ganassi as the group to spearhead this effort is a good one. The team has won multiple Indianapolis 500s, IndyCar Series championships and races, and have had sustained success in North American sports car racing over the last decade, winning at Daytona and Sebring, as well as notching up championship titles. Chip Ganassi knows how to win, and he’s had previous success with Ford, running their Daytona Prototype program in the United Sports Car Series at the moment, and has had success in most everything else he’s tried, excluding NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition.

We will soon know whether Ganassi will have a hand in the World Endurance Championship side, and if so, I’ve a feeling it’ll work out just fine. There’s been some recent online comment suggesting that a North American team doesn’t have the necessary know-how to win races in Europe, and to that I say this: both the factory Corvette squad and the LMP2 Starworks Motorsport have come from America to have success in Europe. The yellow Corvettes have made winning at Le Mans in GT1/GTE-Pro an art form, and the Florida-based Starworks squad won the LMP2 world championship in 2012.

GT racing on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean is going to be epic in 2016. Sports car racing is enjoying something of a golden age at the moment. So many major manufacturers are now involved in GT racing, and we can only wonder and speculate about who else might be thinking about a factory effort? It would be great to see Honda and maybe even Mazda step up to the plate.

It seems crazy to already be looking ahead to next season, with half a year of racing left in this one, but that’s how much sports car fans are anticipating Ford’s arrival.