Ford is sending off the current GT Le Mans racers with a selection of special heritage liveries celebrating each of Ford’s wins at the 24-hour endurance race.
It’s that time of year again when Ford once again touts the four back-to-back wins they had at Le Mans thanks to the revolutionary GT40 race car. Since then, Ford hasn’t had nearly as much luck getting to the winner’s podium at the French endurance race, but that hasn’t stopped the oldest carmaker in the world from celebrating those four wins every year.
This year is a special year for Ford as they will be closing down their factory racing program for the current Ford GT. In honor of that occasion, and of course to once again celebrate those four Le Mans victories, Ford is rolling out a series of four distinct liveries for the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team at this year’s endurance race.
Ford does a pretty good job of summarizing each car in their release:
"The #66 Ford GT raced by Stefan Mücke (GER), Olivier Pla (FRA) and Billy Johnson (USA) has a black livery that echoes that of the Ford GT40 of Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon that won Le Mans in 1966.
“The Ford GT40 that Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt drove to victory at Le Mans in 1967 is remembered in the new livery of the #67 Ford GT raced by Andy Priaulx (GB), Harry Tincknell (GB) and Jonathan Bomarito (USA).
“The #68 Ford GT is Ford’s most recent Le Mans winner, taking the chequered flag first in the 2016 race. Dirk Müller (GER), Joey Hand (USA) and Sébastien Bourdais (FRA) will race in the same colors as when it won Le Mans in 2016.
“The #69 Ford GT of Scott Dixon (NZ), Ryan Briscoe (AUS) and Richard Westbrook (GB) takes its design cues from the Ford GT40 that came second in Ford’s glorious 1-2-3 finish at Le Mans in 1966."
A fifth Ford GT will wear a similar livery to the other ones, but it won’t be celebrating a win. Instead, it will be driven by Ford’s other team in the GTE Am class with Keating Motorsports and will be in purple. Which is pretty cool.
Each car arrived at the La Sarthe Circuit on Tuesday and will undergo Le Mans testing on Sunday, June 2. That’ll be the first time we get to see the GTs in the flesh before the 24 Hours of Le Mans begins on June 15th.