With qualifying to be completed on Thursday night and no on-track activity then till Saturday, the Friday of the Le Mans 24 Hours race week is traditionally a quiet day headlined by the driver’s parade through the town of Le Mans.
But major news is expected Friday (early Saturday morning NZ time) with Ford having scheduled a press conference at Le Mans where it is expected to announce early details of the racing programme for the new Ford GT.
The company has said it is making a news announcement regarding Ford Performance at a press conference attended by Ford executive chairman, William Clay Ford Jr, president and CEO Mark Fields and group vice president of Global Product Development Raj Nair.
William Clay Ford Jr will be honorary starter for this year’s Le Mans race.
It’s expected the all-new Ford GT supercar — revealed at the Detroit auto show in January — will be prepared for a 2016 racing campaign, joining Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin and Corvette in the LM-GTE category.
It would mean a fully-fledged Ford return to Le Mans and endurance racing 50 years after the blue oval’s 1966 success when New Zealanders Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon claimed Le Mans victory in a Ford GT40.
Initial details of the race programme, possibly some driver signings and confirmation that Chip Ganassi Racing will be involved in running the Ford GT programme is expected on Friday.