Riley to Run Mustang GT3 in GTD Next Year

Photo: Ford

Riley Motorsports will campaign a Ford Mustang GT3 in the GTD class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next year, it has been announced.

The Bill Riley-led team, which holds heritage in the IMSA GT ranks with previously running the factory SRT/Dodge Viper GTS-R program before moving onto customer Mercedes-AMG and Porsche machinery, will return to the production-based class with a Multimatic-built Mustang GT3 for the 2026 season.

Riley recently took delivery of its Mustang GT3 at The Henry Ford Museum, located in Dearborn, Mich.

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.

Drivers for the full season program have yet to be announced.

Riley previously told Sportscar365 that he was working on return to the GTD ranks following the announcement that Gar Robinson would shift his focus from LMP2 competition to off-road racing next year.

The team also served as the service provider of this year’s factory Lamborghini SC63 effort, which is being paused for 2026.

“It feels like ‘coming home’ in a way, having grown up in Detroit,” said Bill Riley. “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 V8 up front.

“It is so striking how good of a job Ford Racing and Multimatic Motorsports did on the Mustang GT3.”

Ford Racing global sports car manager Alex Allmandinger added: “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.”

Riley’s new entry brings Ford Racing’s presence in the WeatherTech Championship up to four cars, alongside the returning pair of factory Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3s in GTD Pro, along with the expected continued effort by Gradient Racing in GTD.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John