Art.Nr. 23893"
In my review of the Art.Nr. 23892, I already pointed out that the Ford GT Race Car No. 66 actually has a different name (Ford GT EcoBoost 3.5L Turbo V6 “Team FORD Chip Ganassi USA”) and which team it belongs to (CHIP GANASSI RACING).
This No. 66 car raced for the British GANASSI team in 2019. In this specific configuration and paint scheme, the car competed in the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans. The drivers were Stefan MÜCKE, Olivier PLA, and Billy JOHNSON. The GT finished seventh in the LM GTE Pro class, right behind the aforementioned No. 69.
The light blue Ford featured a paint scheme reminiscent of the Ford GT40 shared in 1966 by the 24 Hours of Le Mans winners, Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon. The ECOBOOST, bearing the number 69, qualified in 37th place with a time of 3:49.511, set by Stefan Mücke in the third practice session. Although the Ford GT with starting number 66 struggled to find the right pace at the start of the race, the driver and mechanics worked together, and the car crossed the finish line in 25th place overall and seventh place in the LM GTE-Pro class.
A few more words about the Ford GT in general:
The Ford GT marked the end of an era for Ford Performance Motorsports when it crossed the finish line for the last time in December 2019 at the Road Atlanta racetrack in Georgia (USA). Racing has been an integral part of Ford since the company’s founding over 100 years ago, when Henry Ford attracted investors through his victories on the racetrack. But this marks the end of just one chapter in Ford’s ongoing assault on the racing record books… It will be exciting to see what Ford has in store next. Going forward, the company plans
As the flagship of Ford’s international racing efforts over the past four years, the GT earned its place in the history books in 2016 when it won the GT class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France on its debut —exactly 50 years after its GT40 predecessor shocked the racing world by beating Ferrari for the overall victory in the 1966 race. The story behind this is legendary and was most recently portrayed in the 2020 movie “Le Mans ’66.”
Since 2016, the mid-engine carbon-fiber GT—the most advanced sports car ever to bear the famous Ford oval—has competed in the IMSA WeatherTech Series and the World Endurance Championship around the globe. It has won 19 races and took home the prestigious IMSA Manufacturers’ Championship in 2018. It has also helped sell 1,350 production GTs for princely sums starting at $500,000 to enthusiasts and collectors who want to own a piece of history.
The end of the Ford GT racing program also marks the end of the production car program. All 1,350 Ford GTs are manufactured by the racing specialist Multimatic, located outside Toronto, and have already been sold. The last GT will roll off the assembly line in 2022—and go down in the history books.
CoMod Lotus
