Ford Unleashes Mustang GT4 at Spa, Promises It's a Dark Horse for Worldwide Racers

I don't want to be ironic (much). Still, by the looks of it, these circuit-only derivatives for GT3 and GT4 racing will arrive in the garages of expert or wannabe racers well before the street-legal Mustang EcoBoost, Mustang GT, and Dark Horse versions reach nationwide dealerships! With that being said, another lively-colored Ford Performance vehicle is ready to go out and about after we recently saw the Mustang GT3 debut at the event of the centenary celebrations of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France and the all-electric, 1,408-hp Ford SuperVan 4.2 took second place overall in the race to the clouds – the 2023 edition (101st running!) of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

Now, though, it's time to focus on the all-new Mustang as it continues its official "tenure in the SRO GT4 category with a new Mustang Dark Horse-based race car set to compete globally in 2024." By the way, if you're feeling a bit like deja-vu, no worries, it's all because of the Troy Lee Designs bespoke livery for Ford Performance that's quite akin to the one seen on the debut car for the Mustang Dark Horse-based GT3. And with the Mustang GT4 reveal, Ford now leans a little more towards "the grassroots amateur" rather than "the professional race team" in a bid to keep the pledge of delivering "a Mustang race car for any kind of racer around the world."

The formal debut took place in front of the crowds gathered for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in eastern Belgium. "The Mustang GT4 is a key member of our motorsports lineup. Its placement between the Mustang GT3 and the soon-to-be-unveiled Mustang Dark Horse keeps the brand in competition at all levels of on-track performance and is an important part of our customer racing program. With this new version, based on the seventh generation's new Dark Horse model, we've upped the game and are ready to challenge an entire world of competitors," explained Mark Rushbrook, Global Director, Ford Performance Motorsports.

Every Mustang GT4 will be outsourced for production to Multimatic. However, the Coyote-based V8 race engine, entirely developed in-house by Ford Performance, will feature the usual assembly home of Dearborn, Michigan. By the way, do not expect all secrets to be spilled already, as there's no word on the pony count, the performance figures, or the juicy downforce factor. Instead, Ford only revealed the Mustang GT4 race car packs Multimatic DSSV dampers, a dog-ring gearbox made by Holinger, paddle shifters with pneumatic actuation, natural fiber body panels, "as well as a unique aero package developed to meet GT4 category targets." Oh, well, maybe that's enough already to get our gasoline blood flowing and our racing hearts pumping, right?