50 years ago, a battle well known in the sports car world rang out across the Circuit de la Sarthe track, the ultimate test of endurance, the 24 hours of Le Mans. Carrol Shelby had just unveiled the Ford GT40 Mark II, freshly reconfigured with a 427 big block, and he was out for blood. Looking to beat Ferrari at their own game, Shelby showed up with four GT40’s. Ferrari only showed up with 2 factory backed P2’s and the North American Racing Team showed up with another. The rest as we know it is written in history. Ford claimed a 1-2-3 victory and continued to win Le Mans for the next three years.
Yesterday, history appeared to be repeating itself as Ford showed up yet again with four of the brand new GT’s in memory of the 1966 victory, and they are doing extremely well. Qualifying first, second, fourth, and fifth for the start of this year’s race in the GTE class. Ferrari hot on Ford’s tail, with the new 488 GTE’s qualifying third and sixth.
Will Ford be able to conquer Ferrari on the 50th anniversary of their first win at Le Mans? Will Ferrari swing back and regain the reigns? Or will the corvette’s come back and prove themselves superior? Keep it locked right here on autotalk.com for all of your Le Mans race information.
