Ford GT LM GTE Coming to iRacing

iRacing officially announced that the 2016/2017 Ford GT GTE will be coming to the iRacing Online racing platform.

The Ford GT GTE will be the second IMSA GT-LM car lined up for release. Back in October of 2016, iRacing announced that the Ferrari 488 GTE model was already in development. Now iRacing President Tony Garder confirmed that the Ford GT GTE is also licensed. Even better so, both cars are already completed and submitted for manufacturer approval.

Depending on the manufacturer’s wishes, it could take as little as days, or as much as weeks, before the cars are ready to be rolled out. With this year’s Le Mans 24 coming up, iRacing hopes to release one or both cars with the early June build.

Once released, iRacing plans to put both cars in the official IMSA series in the same class. All current GT3 cars except the Porsche will be removed from the IMSA series. For the iRacing Le Mans race, the old Ford GT will be removed from the car list, leaving the HPD, the two GT1 cars and one or both of the GTE cars as contenders. Should the release of the new IMSA GTE cars be delayed, the Ford GT2 car will stay in place, to run the race on the scheduled date.

At the time of writing, iRacing could not yet release any videos or screenshots of the new car. They will have to wait until the manufacturers have approved the virtual models.

  

Ford GT LM GTE

The 2016 Le Mans GT-LM class winner is the flagship of the new Ford Performance group and is Ford’s showcase for aerodynamics, lightweight carbon fiber construction, and Ford EcoBoost power. The 2016/2017 Ford GT LM is campaigned by Ford Chip Ganassi Racing in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship.

On June 19, 2016, the number 68 Ford GT of Ford Chip Ganassi Racing finished 1st at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the GTE-Pro class; the victory marked 50 years after Ford won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966, where they came in 1st, 2nd and 3rd with the now iconic GT40.

Specifications:

Chassis and Safety Equipment

Multimatic carbon composite tub with welded steel and machined aluminum subframes integrated FIA-homologated Roll-Over Protection System (ROPS) Sparco FIA-standard race seat Sparco five-point harness and lateral restraints FIA/IMSA-compliant fuel bladder and fire suppression system

Engine

Ford EcoBoost twin-turbocharged, quad-cam, dry-sump V6: 3.5l displacement, assembled by Roush Yates Engines

Driveline

6-speed gearbox with steering wheel-mounted paddle shift, Ricardo internals, bespoke casing

Brakes

Brembo calipers and full-floating rotors, front, and rear

Suspension

Front and rear double A-arms with torsion bars Multimatic DSSV adjustable cartridge-type dampers and blade-adjustable front and rear anti-roll bars

Official Webpage – www.iRacing.com