Ford has officially confirmed its first race for the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship with new Ford GT. Ford will be fielding a pair of GTs at the racing series’ opening race at Silverstone in April. The two supercars are going to be competing in the GT-Endurance Pro Class. The Silverstone race is the first of nine races on the WEC calendar that the Ford GT will be competing in, including the mighty return to Le Mans. It was 50 years ago that Ford took the original GT to Le Mans and dominated the field, so 2016 is a big year for Ford’s new GT racing program.
Along with the nine races on the WEC calendar, Ford will be entering the GT into the nine-race IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship here in the US. Ford built the GT to go racing, and it is jumping in hard and heavy to prove just how capable its new EcoBoost powered super car really is.
We wish the Ford team the best of luck, but you can be certain that Ferrari, Porsche and Corvette are all working hard to make sure that Ford’s return to the track is an uneventful one. This is going to be a great season of racing, folks.
You can find the full race calendar for both the FIA and IMSA below.
2016 FIA World Endurance Championship Provisional Calendar*
Alongside the existing eight rounds an additional race will take place in Mexico, to be confirmed as the contract is still being finalised. The 2016 schedule will feature nine races in four continents:
- March 25/6: The Prologue, Circuit Paul Ricard, France
- April 17: 6 Hours of Silverstone, Great Britain
- May 7: WEC 6 Hours of Spa, Belgium
- June 5: 24 Hours of Le Mans Test Day
- June 18/19: 24 Hours of Le Mans, France
- July 24: 6 Hours of Nürburgring, Germany
- Sept. 4: 6 Hours of Mexico City, Mexico (TBC)
- Sept. 17: 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas (Lone Star Le Mans), U.S.
- Oct. 16: 6 Hours of Fuji, Japan
- Nov. 6: 6 Hours of Shanghai, China
- Nov. 19: 6 Hours of Bahrain, Bahrain
2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Schedule
- Jan 30/31: Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Fla.**
- Mar 19: Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Fla.**
- Apr 16: Long Beach Street Circuit, Long Beach, Calif. (WeatherTech Championship
Prototype (P), Prototype Challenge (PC) and GT Le Mans (GTLM) only)
- May 1: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif.
- June 4: Belle Isle Park, Detroit, Mich. (P, PC and GT Daytona (GTD) only)
- July 3: Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, N.Y.**
- July 10: Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada
- July 23: Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, Conn. (PC, GTLM and GTD only)
- Aug. 7: Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis.
- Aug. 21: Virginia International Raceway, Alton, Va. (GTLM and GTD only)
- Sept. 17: Circuit of The Americas, Austin, Texas
- Oct. 1: Road Atlanta, Braselton, Ga.**
* Subject to validation by the FIA World Motor Sport Council
** Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup events
