The Lead Development Driver for the Car to Debut Next Season Helped Make It Adaptable to Many Size and Skill LevelsJune 12, 2023By John OreoviczIMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For the past year and a half, the 2024 Ford Mustang GT3 was shrouded in secrecy during its design and development.Announced at the 2022 Rolex 24 At Daytona, the new customer race car was finally revealed to the world Friday in Le Mans, France.Throughout that behind-the-scenes gestation period, one man was allowed to become intimately familiar with the fastest and most capable Mustang in the legendary model’s 60-year history. Ford Performance factory development driver Joey Hand, winner of 19 top-level American sports car races who has extensive ties to the brand, was a natural choice.Hand was one of the key drivers in the Ford GT program operated by Chip Ganassi Racing from 2016-19. Along with Sebastien Bourdais and Dirk Mueller, he co-drove to the historic GTE PRO class victory at Le Mans in 2016 on the 50th anniversary of Ford’s overall win in 1966, and he also claimed five wins in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) class competition – including the 2017 Rolex 24 At Daytona. The Mustang GT3 program reunited Hand with familiar engineers from Ford Performance and development partner Multimatic that he worked with during the Ganassi Ford GT years. He has combined his work on the 2024 Mustang GT3 and GT4 programs with a limited race schedule in the NASCAR Cup Series and the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, where he scored a victory for PF Racing at VIRginia International Raceway last August.“As much as I enjoy racing, I have a lot of fun with development programs like this,” Hand said at the recent Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Challenge, where he drove a Grand Sport (GS) class Mustang GT4 for McCumbee McAleer Motorsports in the Michelin Pilot Challenge race. “I’ve done it a couple times now, going back to my BMW days, so I don’t feel too much stress. I was there right from the beginning of the Ford GT program – the first one to roll that thing around (Michelin Raceway) Road Atlanta.“I will say this one feels a little different because you’re doing it for a car that can be sold to anyone,” he added. “It’s not just for me or my teammate and a handful of pro guys. That part of the development hit me as not something that’s just part of the job of an everyday average race car driver.” Hand and Ford Performance put a great deal of thought and attention into making the ergonomics of the Mustang GT3’s cockpit adaptable for drivers of all sizes and skill levels. In a similar vein, Hand’s brief as the lead development driver was to develop a baseline setup for the car to suit a wide variety of driving styles.“You have to think: What if you have someone 5 feet tall? Or somebody 6-foot-5?” Hand related. “You have all these different body types who are going to sit in this car, so we put a lot of care into how things adjust and where the controls should go. “Then when you start driving the car, you want something that’s not too edgy, something that can be in a big window where you can tune it,” he continued. “You’re trying to build that box or that window pretty big so everybody can drive it. There’s always going to be a different style of driving that you need to be able to tune within.”GT3 Builds on Long Legacy of Mustang LoveFord began selling the Mustang worldwide for the first time with the sixth generation that debuted in 2015, including a right-hand drive version for the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan. As Ford transitions to a product line increasingly dominated by trucks and electrified vehicles (including a Mustang-badged electric SUV), the Mustang has emerged as even more of a halo brand for the company.The seventh-generation Mustang (code name S650) on which the new GT3 is based continues the Mustang’s evolution from a pony car based on humble Falcon (and later Fairmont) underpinnings into a genuine sports car. “The cool part for me is there are so many Mustang owners that love their cars, from the ‘60s to the present,” said Hand. “With the upcoming Dark Horse and Dark Horse R versions of the street car, and the GT4 and GT3 race cars, you’re going to have a pretty cool progression of Mustangs, all developed by Ford and Ford Performance. “Another big part of this is now a GT3 homologation is going to allow you to race all over the world,” he added. “That’s a game changer, and that’s why it’s such a big deal to everybody – to drivers, to customers and to Ford. Not only can I buy this car and run it in different series here in the States, but if I need to sell that car, I’m not limited to the U.S. – it can be run anywhere around the world. That’s a huge deal, to be able to run it in Australia or Japan or the Nurburgring.”Ford expects to field multiple Mustang GT3s in the GT Daytona (GTD) and GTD PRO classes of the WeatherTech Championship in 2024, with Hand likely to be in a prominent driving role.“It’s a great time to be racing sports cars. I haven’t seen anything like this amount of manufacturer involvement in the 25 or 30 years I’ve been here,” Hand said. “It’s exciting to be part of this journey with Ford – to be on the ground floor and do it with Ford again. With the history we have, I think it’s really cool. It’s exciting for me, and I think it’s going to be a great program.“The car is a lot of fun to drive,” he added with a smile. “I think a lot of people are thrilled that we’re bringing the Mustang back to racing, and I think what people are going to really like is the sound – it sounds like a V-8. It has a really good tone to it. I’m excited for the world to see it, for sure, and I think people are going to really enjoy it.”(Car photos courtesy Ford Performance) |
