Providing the competitive edge to the Ford GT race programme

June 25, 2019
Ford GT

When Ford announced in 2015 that it would make its return to endurance sports car racing with the Ford GT, 50 years on from the manufacturer’s historic 1-2-3 clean sweep at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Multimatic was tasked with building and developing the car whilst Multimatic Motorsports was chosen to run the two Ford GTs that competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

Ford GT
2018 / 2019 World Endurance Championship Le Mans, France 9th – 16th June 2019 Photo: Christopher Lee

Over the past three WEC seasons, the team has taken on its biggest challenge yet, fighting against fierce competition from Ferrari, Aston Martin, BMW, Corvette and Porsche. This world-class competition has helped to create one of the best race teams on the grid. A team that works tirelessly on every programme, committing 100% to every task.  The work the team has done on pit-stops alone is remarkable, taking chunks of time out of the process to make sure the team always has the competitive edge.

At the 24 Hours of Le Mans the Multimatic crew was the fastest in the pits of all the GTE Pro runners, their two cars recording the shortest accumulated stop times in the class. They provided the #66 and #67 Ford GTs with an advantage, thanks to an incredible technique they have developed whereby, uniquely, the Multimatic crew can complete a full brake change and change all four tyres before the refueller has finished, ensuring no extra time is lost due to a mid-race brake change.

Multimatic’s international squad of racers enjoy being at the heart of the battle and the team has experienced many highs and lows over the past four years. Two huge crashes at Spa-Francorchamps were low points but they demonstrated the integrity of the Ford GT when both drivers walked away unharmed.  Stand out moments include the first pole position and then the first victory in Shanghai in 2016 and a win at Silverstone in 2017 for the British duo of Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell.

Multimatic’s Chief Technical Officer, Larry Holt said: “Although disappointed by the result in our last Le Mans with the factory GT effort, I couldn’t be prouder of our team, the durability of the cars we engineered and built and the overall capability of Multimatic’s engineering group.  We first came to Le Mans in 2000 with a Lola B2K/40 that utilised a Multimatic engineered and built chassis, and we won the LMP675 class.  19 years later we are still coming back to take on the best in the world but the transition of our organisation into what it has now become is almost hard for me to comprehend.  There is very little that we can’t take on at this stage, and so we now move on to a bigger and even more difficult challenge.  I know that we will excel.”

Although the factory Ford GT programme has come to an end, the Multimatic Motorsports team is gearing up for new challenges, which will be revealed soon.

Since returning from Le Mans, the team has been busy completing its move into a new, state-of-the-art Technical Centre in Brackley, UK. Situated in the heart of Motorsport Valley, “Arrow Park” provides Multimatic Motorsports with everything the team needs to continue its upward trajectory. 

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