When the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans gets underway next week (June 16-17) the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team will face its greatest challenge yet. The class in which the Ford GTs compete at Le Mans ‘GTE Pro’ now boasts 17 of the world’s best GT cars from 6 manufactures and 51 of the world’s fastest racing drivers, making it the fiercest contest the team has faced so far.
Following a ‘Fairy-tale’ win in 2016 on the fiftieth anniversary of the legendary GT40 win, now the third year of its successful Ford GT race programme, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing is ready to take on all challengers.
“It’s rewarding to see all four cars come together as one team every year at Le Mans,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance Motorsport. “It shows the scale of the global effort we launched in 2016 and have been building on since.
“Le Mans is always the ultimate challenge but this year it has gone up a level through the sheer size of the opposition. We’re going up against the best that Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin, Corvette and BMW have to offer and we can’t wait. This is why we race.”
The Le Mans 24 Hours is always a highlight in Chip Ganassi’s racing calendar and very experienced team boss is fully committed to shooting for another Ford victory in 2018.
“The Le Mans 24 Hours is one of those races that you have circled on the calendar,” Ganassi said. “It has everything. It’s on an historic track in France, it is an endurance race and it is one of the most spectacular events in the world.
“When you win a race like Le Mans, you know you have accomplished something. It is multiple drivers, crew members and the right manufacturer all coming together. I can’t wait to get back there to compete for another win.”
