The Ford partner explains that Lexus will definitely come, as Mercedes hopes

Former endurance driver, Jerome Policand To date, his team has competed for Mercedes in various GT3 championships, and this year won the overall Pro title for the fourth time at GT World Challenge Europe, for which they also secured the endurance classification.

The ad didn’t mention the potential drivers, but Autosport magazine knows Jose Maria Lopez He could be one of the rumored professional drivers outside of Toyota’s Hypercar team.

There are also more applicants for a second career job, for example Ritomo MiyataToyota reserve driver, as well Jack Hawksworth And Ben Barnicoatwho won the IMSA GTD class this year with Lexus.

According to the LMGT3 class regulations, each brand can have a maximum of two cars in the field, and the Pro-Am system has also been retained, so that each unit can nominate a maximum of one Pro (Platinum or Gold licence), one Silver and one Bronze driver.

Since the beginning of the world, the ubiquitous German Proton Competition has started with Porsche, but they recently announced that they have teamed up with Ford, and will be the drivers of the new Mustang GT3 cars in the World Endurance Championship.

Their team captain has now explained the reasoning behind this decision. Christian Reed It revealed that Proton first sat down to negotiate with Porsche, but the Germans finally entrusted their LMG3 program to Matthey Racing. If they could have named more cars, they would have expected Proton too, but given the two-car limit rule, they point out that Proton should feel free to look elsewhere.

This is how they contacted Ford, and Reid also revealed what kind of support the American brand will provide them.

“We get pretty much the same thing as any other manufacturer: engineers, engineering, powertrain, car and setup.” Motorsport quotes reed.

Of course, the collaboration between the German team and the German brand since 1996 does not end there, as they will be there with the Porsche 963 in the supercar class (and in IMSA) next year as well.

Ford returns to the World Endurance Championship (WEC) after a four-year absence following the discontinuation of the Ford GT program at the end of the 2018/19 season.

There is a significant oversubscription for the LMGT3 class, and it can be certain that some important GT3 manufacturers will not get a place in the first season.

The FIA ​​and the ACO have stated from the beginning that brands in the Hypercar category have an advantage, followed by those that have already collaborated with the WEC in recent years.

None of this can be said about Mercedes, so they are likely far behind in the organizers’ power rankings. The head of the German company responsible for customer competition also realizes this, but he has not given up hope yet.

Stefan Wendel He said they are in contact with many teams and feel hopeful, even though they know they don’t have the best chances.

“So I figure, but you never know. Right now, I’m in a state of hope, because they haven’t said yet that we can’t go. “Everything depends on how many supercars will be there, so we can’t do anything else, we “We are waiting for the final decision.” Motorsport quotes wendel.

Right now, Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, BMW, Corvette and Lexus are almost certain to start, but Aston Martin also has a very good chance of starting. In addition, there is expected to be room for two other manufacturers, of which Ford and McLaren are the favourites.