BRASELTON, Ga. – During a press conference at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta Thursday afternoon (Oct. 12), Ford Multimatic Motorsports revealed their four full-time drivers that will race the new Ford Mustang GT3 in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2024. There are quite a few familiar names.
During the IMSA State of the Sport presentation earlier in the afternoon, the official entry list revealed that the team will be running Nos. 64 and 65. The full-time factory drivers will be Joey Hand, Dirk Mueller, Mike Rockenfeller and Harry Tincknell.
The only new member of the squad is Rockenfeller, who currently races full-time in a Porsche 963 for JDC-Miller MotorSports. He has also raced part-time for Legacy Motor Club this season in the NASCAR Cup Series and was part of Hendrick Motorsports’ Garage 56 effort at Le Mans.
Hand, Mueller and Tincknell are all returnees to Ford who had previously raced the Ford GT with Ford Chip Ganassi Racing. Hand and Mueller were teammates with the organization, while Tincknell shared the No. 67 with Richard Westbrook. Tincknell will be working with the same engineer that he had with Ganassi.
Ford is ready to take on the biggest names in GT racing with the new Ford Mustang GT3.
“We’re thrilled to embark on this exciting endeavor and to put our 58 years of global Mustang racing heritage and performance to the test against some of the world’s greatest manufacturers,” stated Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance. “We want to welcome Joey [Hand] and Dirk [Mueller] back to the Ford family after a great few years with the GT program. Combined with Harry’s four wins during the Ford GT program and Mike’s impressive racecraft and résumé, this puts us in a strong starting position in the Mustang GT3’s debut season.”
Since the Ford GT program ended at the end of 2019, the former factory drivers scattered. Hand has stayed with Ford and served as one of the main development drivers for the new Mustang. When the new Mustang GT3 was announced at Daytona in 2022, Hand was announced as the lead test driver. He stated at the time that his role would be more technical in 2022. For this year, he’s spent a lot of time on the track.
In addition to his testing role, Hand has raced a little in the NASCAR Cup Series with Rick Ware Racing on road courses. He has also served as a substitute driver in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with teams such as PF Racing and McCumbee-McAleer Racing.
“I’m super excited to finally announce this program and get going with it,” Hand stated. “It’s been a long time coming – been working on this thing for over a year. I’m super thankful and proud to be involved in the early stages of testing the car. We’ve had it on-track a lot. I tell you, the first time I drove it, I really liked it. It’s one of those cars, for me, it just fits my style. I knew it right away. I think there are going to be a lot of great years of racing this car.”
Hand stated during the press conference that he will once again team up with Mueller, who he describes as his “German brother from another mother.” Mueller stated that he is grateful to be able to resume his partnership with Hand, which dates back 14 years.
Mueller has spent the past couple of years racing in GT3 equipment, primarily in Europe. Last year, Mueller ran a couple of races for Proton Competition in a Mercedes.
Tincknell is currently driving for Proton Competition in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship in a Porsche 963. He also raced in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s GTE-Am class with Proton in a Porsche 911 RSR-19 prior to the team acquiring their 963.
All four drivers have had some testing time in the Mustang GT3, although some have gotten more time than others. Rockenfeller has only had one test at Sebring International Raceway up to this point.
Additional drivers for the endurance races were not revealed Thursday. Those drivers will be announced at a later date, but Multimatic’s Larry Hoyt indicated during the press conference that those drivers may be WEC regulars that might be coming over from Europe.
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.