Four reasons Ford should race the Mustang at Le Mans

There’s a lot of backchannel chatter about Ford and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We hear a P2 proposal is out there, just waiting to be approved.  For a number of reasons, it makes sense. We also heard that someone inside floated the idea of a GT campaign, timed to to coincide with the Mustang’s 50thanniversary, but got shut down. But minds can be changed. Here’s why we think a Ford Mustang needs to run against the world’s best GT cars at the world’s greatest endurance race.

1. The car would be spectacular

Sure, the spaceships in P1 are cool, and the insectine P2 cars have their appeal, but the GT cars evoke an entirely different sort of passion. It’s easy to see why—they’re based on real production sports cars. You know them. You see them on the street. And if you have the means, you can buy them.

They’re also wicked-looking in all the right ways. A GTE-class Mustang would be no different. The drawing above, created for us by the immensely talented Andy Blackmore, shows what a proper factory Le Mans Mustang might look like—wide, mean, and confident. With the impending arrival of the new Shelby GT350, Ford has a legitimate halo car on which to base the racer, too. The Marshall Pruett Archives

2. From a marketing perspective, it’s a no-brainer

We’re in the midst of the Mustang’s 50th anniversary celebration, with the brand-new car landing in showrooms later this year. Interest is at a fever pitch, and the announcement of a Le Mans program would ramp it up even further.

Also remember that the 2015 Mustang finally goes global. Ford’s pony car will be sold in Europe, meaning a competition version at Le Mans wouldn’t just be an American-market novelty act. Race attendees would be able to buy their own. Ford knows that as well as anyone. Win on Sunday …

Meanwhile, stateside race fans would get to see it run against the GT big guns in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. Don’t think IMSA wouldn’t love to have Mustang in the mix on that race calendar.

3. Ford vs. Chevy (and Ferrari, and Porsche, and Aston Martin)

Look past P1 with its insane lunar-mission budgets and bleeding-edge technology, and it’s undeniable: The next most attractive class is GTE, thanks to the heavy manufacturer involvement. You'd have instant, juicy rivalries.

Corvette, Porsche, Ferrari, and Aston Martin all have factory-backed teams in the GTE slugfest. It only gets better if Dodge returns with its works Vipers after taking a sabbatical this year.

There’d be no shortage of “villains” for the Mustang faithful to root against and gloat over if Ford were to pull off a win.

Ford in P2 should be great, but it's not the same. A Ford-engined prototype vs. Honda, Nissan, and Judd power just doesn’t have the same cachet as, say, Mustang vs. Corvette.The Marshall Pruett Archives

4. The history is waiting to be written

There’s great Le Mans history tied to Ford and Carroll Shelby, but it’s not about the Mustang. We all know about the GT40’s incredible run from ’66 to ‘69 and about the legendary 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe.

The Mustang? No success.

In 1967, a Shelby GT350 driven by the Belgian team of Claude Dubois and Chris Tuerlinckx completed just 58 laps. 30 years later, Steve Saleen went to Le Mans and fielded a pair of his Saleen-Allen Speedlab Mustang RRR race cars. Both were DNFs. 

Ford has had great success with the Mustang in sports-car racing—think of the legendary Trans-Am cars as well as the wild IMSA GTO and GTP monsters—but it’s got no history on the sport’s grandest stage.

It’s time to change that.

Send the Mustang to Le Mans, and race to win.