However exotic as it may appear between all those Audis, Porsches, BMWs and Mercedes, the Mustang isn’t the first Ford to tackle a major European racing series. Just remember the original GT40 that gave Enzo Ferrari nightmares and you will get the picture. This time, Ford wants the Mustang to fight against Europe’s finest in the GT3 category in an attempt to offer street-credibility to the car before the company will officially start selling it on the old continent.
The Mustang GT3 weighs in at just 2976 lbs (1350 kg) and features a 5.3-liter V8 engine that produces 560 horsepower. The performance figures, combined with the all-new transaxle on the Ford Mustang Marc VDS GT3 guarantee that the car will be a serious contender during its debut season. The first car, with the chassis number MVDS001/001, was built by Canada’s Multimatic racing garage, which shipped it afterwards to the UK, where it underwent an initial successful shakedown test at Ford’s European test facility near Luton, Bedfordshire.
There will be two cars entered in the GT3 European Championship. The #98 Ford Mustang Marc VDS GT3 will be driven by Belgian Eric De Doncker and Canadian Scott Maxwell, while the #99 car’s driver lineup will be announced shortly. If there are requests, Marc VDS Racing Team and Multimatic will build additional cars for customer teams. The price of the Mustang GT3 is yet to be announced.
Google News