HRT Reveals Three-Car Ford Entry for N24

HRT Ford Performance has revealed plans for a three-car effort in this year’s Nürburgring 24, fielding three Ford Mustang GT3s for its first attempt at the Eifel endurance classic with the Blue Oval.

In total, eleven drivers, including two former N24 winners, will be deployed across the three Yokohama-shod cars for the second round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge season later this month.

The three cars will seek to end a decades-long win drought for Ford at the N24, with the brand’s last victory dating back to 1987.

Frank Stippler, who triumphed in last year’s red-flagged and shortened edition with Scherer Sport PHX, will share the No. 64 car with Arjun Maini, Dennis Olsen and Jusuf Owega, who are all Ford Performance factory drivers.

Owega will pull double duty across two cars at the event, also driving the No. 65 machine alongside Dennis Fetzer, factory driver David Schumacher as well as his brother Salman, who is a Ford Performance junior driver.

Finally, the No. 63 Ford will see 2004 N24 winner Dirk Mueller, who remains contracted to Multimatic despite leaving the team’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD Pro lineup earlier this year, drive alongside team owner Haupt and Nordschleife regulars Patrick Assenheimer and Vincent Kolb.

Although Ford has featured in the lower categories of the N24 in previous years, most recently in 2022 with a privately entered Mustang in the AT class, the brand’s last involvement in SP9 dates back to 2009.

That year, a Ford GT entered by Raeder Automotive started the race from overall pole position, but failed to reach the finish.