Riley Motorsports have confirmed that its 2026 programme will be headlined with a new Ford Mustang GT3 in the GTD class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The Mooresville, N.C. operation took delivery of their new steed at The Henry Ford Museum, located in Dearborn, Michigan.
The white base, red-striped livery is inspired by the Motorcraft-sponsored 1985 Roush / Protofab Mustang GTO, which captured an IMSA class championship the same year.
Alex Allmandinger, Ford Racing global sports car manager: “We’re really excited to have Bill Riley and his team on-board with Ford Racing. We continue to grow and expand our customer base, recruiting highly competitive, top-level teams to run the Mustang GT3.
“We’re thrilled to see them competing in the GTD class next year. We have paired this championship level car with championship caliber teams, and with that, have proven that Mustang GT3 is capable of winning top-level GT races globally.”
Bill Riley, Riley Technologies and Riley Motorsports co-owner and president: “It feels like ‘coming home’ in a way, having grown up in Detroit.
To receive this Ford Mustang GT3 at The Henry Ford has been very nice, as well as seeing all the capabilities Ford Racing has to offer its customers. Now it’s up to us to execute. This is a very exciting time for Riley Motorsports. The ‘All American’ aspect really delivers with that big V-8 up front. It is so striking how good of a job Ford Racing and Multimatic Motorsports did on the Mustang GT3.”
It’s a family reunion with the Mustang racing line, Bill’s father Bob, who passed away last year, designed the iconic Ford Mustang GTP of 1983.
The GTD programme announcement comes as Riley prepare for their final race with two other programmes – in partnership with Gar Robinson in LMP2 as the double IMSA class champion steps away from full season endurance racing to focus on Rally Raid, and as the service provider from the soon to be paused Lamborghini SC63 GTP programme.
Riley then are set to become the fourth team to campaign the Mustang GT3 in the IMSA Championship, with the factory Ford Multimatic Motorsports two-car outfit in GTD Pro, 2024’s single season single cast GTD effort for Proton Competition and this season’s Gradient racing GTD effort.
Mustang GTP pic copyright Fred Lewis and courtesy Racingsportscars
