#gte

The realities of modern racing series are dominated by homologation rules and the balancing of performance between makes and models. As such, the racecar’s engines are sometimes detuned when compared the road-going car upon which they’re based.

In celebration of their 1966 Ferrari-beating LeMans win, Ford Performance wanted to offer its customers a de-restricted track-day version of the GT, which they’re calling the Mk II. With Multimatic, the designers of the Ford GT racecar and manufacturer of all Ford GTs, they threw the rule books out the window and set out to build the ultimate GT track car.

This year’s 24 Hours of LeMans was expectedly dominated by the two LMP1 entries from Toyota, but it wasn’t the expected car that won. LMP2 had a huge battle of its own, American-based IMSA teams challenged in GTE Pro, and the heartfelt GTE Am win changed after the end of the race.

After dominating for nearly the whole race and resetting the track record, the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 Hybrid of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Jose Maria Lopez came in with a down tire. Upon going back out, they realized that the tire pressure sensor system was reporting the incorrect tire’s pressure and they had to come in once again. Driving the entire track with a low tire cost them dearly.