In the world of auto racing in the 1960s, two industry giants faced off in a contest for the ages. Those two carmakers were, of course, Ford and Ferrari, and the former’s quest to defeat the latter at 24 Hours of Le Mans was later retold in a critically acclaimed film. In the decades since then, the two companies’ priorities in the realm of competitive racing have differed, but the idea of a rematch remains enticing — especially in the wake of Ford v. Ferrari‘s 2019 release.
As it turns out, that theoretical rematch hasn’t just been something racing fans have been pondering. In comments made to Autocar, Mark Rushbrook — Ford Performance Motorsports’ global director — revealed that Ford is considering a return to Le Mans.
“Motorsports is very strong, overall, globally, and all different disciplines — they’re all strong,” Rushbrook told Autocar. “But I think, relatively, sports car racing in these last three years has really come on, and a lot of that is because of global convergence.” And that, in turn, is why Ford is considering readying a hypercar that could compete in the Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) or Le Mans Daytona h (LMDh) category.
“You look at the number of manufacturers involved in it, and some choose LMDh while some choose LMH,” Rushbrook said. “So yeah, of course, we’re looking at it, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to tell you what we’ll do.” He also pointed out that Ford had competed against Ferrari in the GT3 category at Le Mans, but a hypercar rematch hasn’t yet been in the cards.
Inside the Cruise/Pitt “Ford v Ferrari” That Might Have Been
We might have had a very different story of Ford’s Le Mans triumphFor their part, Ferrari’s return to the highest levels of endurance racing with the 499P has gone well. Ferrari’s team won the 2023 edition of 24 Hours of Le Mans and repeated that feat last month. Though Ferrari is also considering its own next move, having recently announced that it won’t develop a version of the 499P to take part in IMSA competition — at least not in 2025.
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