Two of the biggest manufacturers in the world are finally turning up at the biggest motor racing party in the world. Ford and Chevrolet, two marques with rich racing pedigrees, are belatedly pitching up in GT3 with factory programmes in the 19th season of the category. Each is arriving with an iconic V8 muscle car: Ford with the Mustang; Chevrolet with the Corvette. To say they go head to head for the first time on home ground in the IMSA SportsCar Championship’s season-opening Daytona 24 Hours isn’t quite right. That would be to ignore the nine other manufacturers represented in the GT Daytona classes this weekend.
The two American marques have decided at exactly the same time to go up against Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, BMW et al in a division that has enjoyed boom times for much of its existence for many of the same reasons. Among them is the ability for Ford and Chevrolet to now take on the challenge of the Le Mans 24 Hours by racing in the World Endurance Championship with GT3 machinery in LMGT3. So, too, is the fact that both are going racing to show off their latest products: the seventh-generation Mustang has arrived in the 2024 model year, while the latest Corvette to wear the halo Z06 badge – the mid-engined C8 version – went on sale in 2022.
But there are
