Before we saw Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby on the big screen, Ford’s 1960s battle with Ferrari at Le Mans wasn’t a mainstream story. Thanks to the success of Ford v Ferrari, much of the world is aware of the rivalry. And while the two companies have competed against each other in motorsport since then, Ford hasn’t tried to take the overall victory at Le Mans from Ferrari since. But it’s thinking about trying again.
When asked whether Ford would look into fielding a competitor to race in the prototype class at Le Mans, Ford Performance’s global director Mark Rushbrook told Autocar that the team is “constantly studying or looking at where we can race, or should race”.
Ford already races Ferrari at Le Mans—just in the lower GT3 class, with the Mustang taking on the Ferrari 296. However, Ferrari also races in the Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) category, the highest class at Le Mans, comprised primarily of hybrid prototypes engineered to claim overall victory at the Circuit de la Sarthe. Ford has been absent from the top classes ever since the legendary GT40 retired from kicking ass in 1967, and its successor, the P68, brought no success the following year. But that doesn’t mean Ford’s absence will be permanent.
“GTE and GT LM converged with GT3—so now we’ve got one focus for GT racing, which helped us make sense out of having the Mustang GT3—and the same at prototype [level], which has not truly converged in many ways, because there’s still the LMDh formula, or the LMH formula, but at least there’s the ability to race them together, so that convergence has been great,” Rushbrook told Autocar.
“You look at the number of manufacturers involved in it, and some choose LMDh while some choose LMH. So yeah, of course, we’re looking at it, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to tell you what we’ll do.”
Ultimately, Ford will do whatever it believes makes the best business sense. Ford previously spoke about how racing the Mustang at Le Mans and elsewhere has helped drive interest in its sports cars. And, with its F-150 Lightning SuperTruck Pikes Peak racer—which is neither an F-150 Lightning nor a truck—Ford drives business toward its electric pickups. So if the brand can somehow make a commercial case for building an LMH or LMDh car (two formulas that compete in the same Hypercar class in the World Endurance Championship and IMSA) to challenge Ferrari for the top spot at Le Mans, it will.
“Where it is easy is [Ford CEO Jim Farley] understanding what motorsports is and what it takes to do it, and truly understanding the benefits from it. But he certainly holds us accountable from a business perspective—to do it in a responsible and sustainable way,” Rushbrook said.
With Ferrari riding high off winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the second year in a row, Ford might be tempted enough to take its old rival on again. While Ford might not be able to make a specific road vehicle connection to the race car—as there currently aren’t any plans to build another Ford GT supercar—it could draw on the recent movie’s mainstream success and publicly throw down the gauntlet again, bringing attention to the brand itself.
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