Just when Ford had made us incredibly excited with the new Ford GT, they continue to share more good news as this GT will also be making appearances on the race track. Ford’s new race car is currently being put under various testing as it will be a very hectic race season next year, entering various races around the world.
The new GT will be entering both the United SportsCar Championship and the World Endurance Championship as well. With the WEC being in the calendar, this means that we will be able to see the Blue Oval making a comeback at the legendary Circuit de La Sarthe for the 24 Hours of Le Mans! Below is the full schedule for the Ford GT in the 2016 season:
2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule
Jan 30/31: Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Fla.**
Mar 19: Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Fla.**
Apr 16: Long Beach Street Circuit, Long Beach, Calif. (WeatherTech Championship
Prototype (P), Prototype Challenge (PC) and GT Le Mans (GTLM) only)
May 1: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif.
June 4: Belle Isle Park, Detroit, Mich. (P, PC and GT Daytona (GTD) only)
July 3: Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, N.Y.**
July 10: Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada
July 23: Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, Conn. (PC, GTLM and GTD only)
Aug. 7: Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis.
Aug. 21: Virginia International Raceway, Alton, Va. (GTLM and GTD only)
Sept. 17: Circuit of The Americas, Austin, Texas
Oct. 1: Road Atlanta, Braselton, Ga.**
* Subject to validation by the FIA World Motor Sport Council
** Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup events
2016 World Endurance Championship schedule
March 25/6: The Prologue, Circuit Paul Ricard, France
April 17: 6 Hours of Silverstone, Great Britain
May 7: WEC 6 Hours of Spa, Belgium
June 5: 24 Hours of Le Mans Test Day
June 18/19: 24 Hours of Le Mans, France
July 24: 6 Hours of Nürburgring, Germany
Sept. 4: 6 Hours of Mexico City, Mexico (TBC)
Sept. 17: 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas (Lone Star Le Mans), U.S.
Oct. 16: 6 Hours of Fuji, Japan
Nov. 6: 6 Hours of Shanghai, China
Nov. 19: 6 Hours of Bahrain, Bahrain
While the car is scheduled to make a couple of stops in Asia like Japan and China, it is too bad that we could not get a firsthand look on this great machine as the WEC has yet to included Sepang in their calendar. Nevertheless, we are pretty excited to see how the new Ford GT will perform on the track and hopefully it will not be as anti-climactic as Nissan’s GT-R LM Nismo.
