(Ford)
The new Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 is taking to the track before it hits the street.
The racing version of the thoroughbred is making its debut in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge at Watkins Glen this weekend.
The GT350R-C shares its aggressive bodywork and most of its parts with the production Shelby, per series rules. This includes its 5.2-liter V8, which features an exotic flat-plane crankshaft and is set to pump out 526 horsepower in street tune.
It’ll likely be much less than that in the competition car, which is entered in the Grand Sport class where regulations aim to balance performance among a wide variety of vehicles that include the Chevy Camaro, BMW M3, and Aston Martin Vantage.
One thing it won’t have is the stock GT350’s adaptive MagneRide shock absorbers, which are banned, but its lowered and stiffened suspension has, of course, been tuned for the track.
The GT350R-C is being run by Multimatic Motorsports, which will also build the Ford GT supercar that’s set to make an assault on the 24 Hours of Le Mans next year.
Billy Johnson, Scott Maxwell, Austin Cindric and Jade Buford are the drivers for the two-car effort at the 2 hour, 30 minute-long endurance race.