Ford Racing Will Unveil an All-New, Road-Going Sports Car In January
It sounds like Ford’s rebranded motorsports division has something very exciting in the works.
Ford Racing announced on Tuesday that it plans to offer a sneak peek at an “all-new” road car early next year. Details are next to non-existent at this point, but the announcement has some wondering if the vehicle could be the follow-up, spiritual or otherwise, to the second-generation GT.
On January 15, in the Blue Oval’s hometown of Detroit, the company will hold a star-studded event to preview the upcoming seasons for Formula 1, which it is returning to following a two-decade absence, NASCAR, and beyond. That alone would be noteworthy, but those in attendance will also get a glimpse of the new vehicle.
The track-only Ford GT Mk IV
Ford
Anyone hoping for more information will have to wait until then, though. The announcement, which is credited to Ford Racing chief Mark Rushbrook, is devoid of concrete details about the vehicle, although it does refer to it as both a “production road car” and “a testament to how deeply we’re integrating our racing innovation into the vehicles you drive every day.”
That lack of detail has naturally led to plenty of speculation about what to expect from the vehicle. Ford hasn’t had a true sports car in its lineup since the street-legal, second-generation GT went out of production in 2022 (the final track-only examples continue to trickle out). Motor1.com points out that its first iteration launched in 2005 and its successor in 2017, so it wouldn’t be a complete shock if the automaker was thinking about bringing it back again. The prospect of a new GT is especially exciting when you consider that the 3.8-liter EcoBoost V-6 found it the final Mk IV examples made 820 hp.
There’s also some thought that the car could be a follow-up to the Mustang GTD. Yes, the ‘Stang is a muscle car, but its most hardcore variant is also a boundary-pushing speed machine that was briefly the fastest American-made car in Nürburgring history. That record was broken by the Chevrolet C8 Corvette ZR1X this past summer, so it makes sense that Ford might want it back. Or maybe Ford CEO Jim Farley was serious about turning the Raptor into a 1,000-hp supercar.
