Ford boss hints at Mustang race car for the road

The new seventh-generation Ford Mustang could get an even higher-performance variant than what has already been announced, if new comments from the US car giant’s global CEO are a guide.

Last week, Ford CEO Jim Farley uploaded a video of the upcoming Mustang GT3 race car testing at Florida’s Sebring circuit to social media platform Twitter, showing its ‘Coyote’ V8 engine bellowing between the track’s concrete barriers.

Mr Farley later retweeted the video with the caption “should we make a road version?” – suggesting Ford is interested in building a road-going Mustang which draws inspiration from the GT3 racer.

Given the Mustang GT3 is itself based on the upcoming muscle car’s new ‘Dark Horse’ variant – which features a number of performance-focused parts compared to the Mustang GT – it’s unclear how Ford would position the new racing-derived model grade.

When the Mustang Dark Horse was revealed in September 2022, Ford said there would be two track-only variants of the model – the Dark Horse S and Dark Horse R.

It’s understood both track-ready Mustang Dark Horse variants are unrelated to the GT3 car, which will carry even fewer parts across from the road-going Dark Horse than the track S and R grades.

Ford has also confirmed it is outsourcing production of the Mustang GT3 race car to Multimatic – the Canadian company which built the Ford GT racer for Le Mans between 2016 and 2019, as well as three generations of Mustang race cars since 2005.

Details about the Ford Mustang GT3 are expected to be revealed throughout the year before the racer makes its competition debut next year.

The Ford Mustang GT3 will also be eligible for the Bathurst 12 Hour endurance race in 2025, with the car-maker previously announcing its intention to race in the popular event.

Australia is also the first country to see the new Ford Mustang on a race track, after the seventh-generation model made its debut earlier this month in the opening round of the V8 Supercars championship.