Chambers Eyeing Le Mans Path With New Ford Tie-Up

Chloe Chambers views her inclusion in the Red Bull Ford Academy as a potential pathway to a future appearance at Le Mans, pointing to the Mustang Challenge’s invitational race at the event as an appealing short-team option.

Chambers, 20, was confirmed on Wednesday as the newest member of the junior program for the Blue Oval and the Austrian energy drink giant, which will see her compete in the F1 Academy for a second season next year.

Outside of her single-seater exploits, she has also competed in a variety of sports car series and makes her second appearance in Mustang Challenge at this weekend’s Indianapolis Motor Speedway round with Spark Performance.

She made her debut during the series’ inaugural weekend in June and cites her willingness to grow as a driver as a key motivator to compete in multiple different championships.

“I always take whatever opportunity comes,” Chambers told Sportscar365.

“So if I’m available for that weekend, if I’m home or something and somebody comes knocking, then of course I’ll take any opportunity to drive.

“Because any time in a car, regardless of what kind of car it is, is good for your experience ultimately and will help build upon your skills as a driver.”

Chambers spoke of an ambition to one day compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, noting that the decision to link up with Ford presents her with “a lot of different avenues” even outside of the open wheel ladder.

“This is a really good pathway that I’m on right now with the Red Bull Ford Academy program right now,” she said.

“There’s a lot of different avenues that I can go after F1 Academy. Of course F1 Academy has the two-year rule, so I’m out after next season. So I’ll have to find something else to go race in.

“Hopefully that is I win the F1 Academy championship and then I go wherever they put me but you’re not gonna be racing open-wheel cars forever.

“So this relationship with Ford I think will be something that I’m able to build upon and hopefully end up at Le Mans one day.

“Maybe even next year in the Mustang Challenge, but I don’t know what the schedule is yet.”

Chambers referred to the Mustang Challenge Le Mans Invitational, which will form part of the support bill for next year’s edition of the French endurance classic and entries for which opened on Thursday.

It remains to be seen whether or not the F1 Academy calendar will allow Chambers to make the trip to France, as next year’s Canadian Grand Prix is set to clash with Le Mans.

The 2025 schedule for the F1 Academy series, which formed part of F1’s support bill for seven events this year, has not yet been released.

With Chambers returning to the cockpit of the Ford Mustang Dark Horse R for the first time since June, she has had to adapt back to the intricacies of the V8-powered machine.

“I think one of the biggest things in sports cars versus the open wheel thing is kind of just the characteristics of the sports car,” Chambers said.

“So it’s a little bit slower to make transitions. You have to really like weigh on the car a lot more. There’s ABS in these cars.

“So you have a different braking style when you have an ABS car. Of course, the racing is different too.

“You can rub a little bit more and lean on each other a little more. It’s a little bit more similar to a go-kart race.”

Chambers was condemned to a back-of-the-grid start for the opening race on Thursday after the grid was based on driver points following an accident for Zachry Lee in qualifying that led to no timed laps for any competitor.

The spectre of a disadvantageous grid position did little to phase Chambers, who described her sophomore Mustang outing as a “pretty low stress” affair.

She would eventually fight her way up to ninth place after 45 minutes of racing.

“It’s not like I’m in the running for the championship or anything,” she said.

“I’ve only done one round before this. This is kind of just a fun weekend for me, pretty low stress.

“When you have something like that happen in qualifying where it’s completely out of your control, you can’t really be too upset with it.

“In Mid-Ohio, I kind of got to learn how everybody raced each other. And even in Mid-Ohio, I came from the back too because in the second race I was involved in an incident at the start so I ended up falling back pretty far.”