Mustangs Prep For European Racing Debut
After much time of prepping and preparing the Ford Mustang is finally ready to make its debut of road racing in Europe. The Mustang FR500C, which has seen victory in the U.S. race, Grand Am KONI Challenge Series has been registered for the FIA GT4 competition. On the other end you have the FR500GT, which will be racing for the very first time, that has been registered for the FIA GT3 competition.
Dan Davis, the director of Ford Racing Technology has complete confidence in both racers against a largely European car race saying that, “Mustang has been a winner, both on the track and in the marketplace since it made its debut in 1964. “We have always said that Mustang was ‘born to race,’ and it has been a championship-winning car for Ford in such places as IMSA, SCCA, NHRA and now Grand-Am.”
This will be the third year that the FR500C has been racing in the KONI Challenge Series and has shown that it is capable of pleasing fans when it obtained seven wins. In the 2007 season-opening race in Daytona, Florida there were roughly fourteen Mustang FR500C lined up on the grid. “With that kind of success, we’re excited about the prospect of both our Mustang FR500 race cars being approved for FIA GT competition,” said Davis.
Davis is not just thinking about how well the Mustang will do on the race tracks, but is also looking forward to how it can help commercially. “Based on interest we’ve seen from teams in Europe, we see this as an excellent commercial business opportunity to sell additional complete, ready-to-race Mustangs.”
The Mustang has a rich and powerful racing history that has always been shown off here in America and has gained respect from teams and fans alike. Davis has made it clear that registering these vehicles is a Ford Racing North American project. He has every confidence that things will go smoothly.
“Much like our successful Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series program, we see this as purely a customer program for private teams that want to race competitive Mustangs,” said Davis, who noted that this is not a first step for Ford to go “factory” road racing in Europe. “The success of the Mustang FR500C has shown that we can design and build ready-to-win race cars for customers.”