On the eve of the commencement of the 24 Hours of Le Mans centenary edition, Ford Performance has unveiled the Mustang GT3, a race car based on the S650 Mustang Dark Horse. Equipped with a 5.4-liter Coyote-based V8, bespoke short-long arm suspension, a rear-mounted transaxle gearbox, carbon fiber body panels, and advanced aero, it's not that closely related to the road car, but that's because it intends to take on the world's best next year.

As part of the reveal of the race car, Ford Performance unveiled its new logo and announced that it will enter the Mustang GT3 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2024, making good on the promise to enter the car in several forms of motorsport.

"Ford and Le Mans are bound together by history," said Ford CEO Jim Farley. "And now we're coming back to the most dramatic, most rewarding, and most important race in the world. It's not Ford versus Ferrari anymore. It is Ford versus everyone. Going back to Le Mans is the beginning of building a global motorsports business with Mustang, just like we are doing with Bronco and Raptor off-road."

Its first outing will be at the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The colorful livery you see here is far less menacing than the exposed carbon fiber body, but it's certainly attention-grabbing. It was created by Troy Lee, one of the foremost motorsport designers, and is his first design for a Ford race car.

Ford Performance says it opted for a simpler logo design to help the outfit stand out in all forms of motorsport, so all Ford race cars going forward will feature the new identity.

Multimatic Motorsports and M-Sport have collaborated on the project, with the former responsible for building and supporting Mustang GT3s at races, while M-Sport will assemble the engines. Multimatic will also manage the teams. The first customer team to announce its intent to race in the World Endurance Championship season and the 24 Hours of Le Mans is Proton Competition, which campaigned the Porsche 911 RSR at Le Mans in 2022 with Michael Fassbender on the team.

Power outputs and weight estimates have not yet been revealed, but we're sure the GT3 car will be competitive. Most importantly, it will put the latest Mustang in front of many more automotive fans, helping Ford to test the theory, "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday."