The Le Mans 24 hour race next month will be Ford’s last for the current Ford GT program. The car has served its purpose, it won the big race again, gave Ford the headlines it needed, and it’s dumping this whole expensive international sports car program like a bad habit. The crew have one last opportunity to take on the big show in France, and the cars—well, three of them at least—will do it in style with some awesome throwback liveries.
This quartet will celebrate Ford’s previous successes at La Sarthe. The black and white car commemorates Ford’s 1966 victory with Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon driving. The red and white car similarly corresponds to Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt’s 1967 win. The 2016 GTE Pro class winning Ford is back with the same red/white/blue livery that it wore three years ago.
The fourth car, a gorgeous light blue with red accent, commemorates a very odd call from the officials in 1966. Technically, the Denny Hulme and Ken Miles car dressed in this color scheme crossed the line at the finish first. Ford was running 1-2-3, and the call was made for the cars to finish in formation for a nice photograph to hang on a boardroom wall in Dearborn.
An obscure rule was called up from the ether, and the finish was thrown into question. Because the black and white car of McLaren/Amon qualified slightly down the order and started the race from 60 feet behind the Miles/Hulme car, and they finished within feet of each other, the win was given to the black #2.
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There will also be a fifth Ford GT racing at Le Mans this year, for the first time in the GTE Am category. Keating Motorsports has entered a Wynn’s liveried privateer Ford GT with Jeroen Bleekemolen, Felipe Fraga, and Ben Keating himself sharing the driving duties.
The race is June 15th and 16th, and you can come watch it with the Jalopnik staff. It’ll be fun, I promise.
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