Ford would be the Featured Marque of the twelfth operating of the HSR Daytona Traditional 24 Hour offered by Mission Meals at Daytona Worldwide Speedway (DIS), November 11 – 15, 2026.
The HSR Daytona Traditional 24 Hour is an annual tribute race to the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Ford has taken house 20 first-place trophies from the Rolex 24, together with its first 24-hour victory in 1966 by Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby in a Ford GT 40 Mk II within the first Daytona race to formally run the 24-hour distance.
The 1966 Daytona 24-hour race victory marks its sixtieth anniversary subsequent 12 months, however is not going to be Ford’s solely main motorsports milestone of be aware in 2026. The primary and year-long celebration, which shall be one of many major focal factors of subsequent 12 months’s HSR Daytona Traditional 24 Hour, is the unbelievable a hundred and twenty fifth Anniversary of Ford’s first race win.
In October 1901, a younger Henry Ford shocked the racing world when he piloted his self-built “Sweepstakes” racer to victory at Grosse Pointe Raceway. Defeating Alexander Winton, probably the most completed driver of the period, Ford secured the backing that will result in the creation of the Ford Motor Firm.
4 extra total Rolex 24 victories adopted the preliminary 1966 win along with a seemingly unstoppable run of GT-class victories by Jack Roush ready Mustangs within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties.
Right this moment, the subsequent chapter in Ford’s unbelievable Rolex 24 At Daytona historical past is being written by the modern-era Mustang GT3 program. Appropriately introduced in the course of the 2022 Rolex 24 At Daytona, the Mustang GT3 claimed its first victory in worldwide sports activities automotive racing competitors at this 12 months’s Rolex 24 At Daytona, the opening spherical of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Even higher, the successful No. 65 entry was joined on the GT Daytona (GTD) Professional podium by its sister No. 64 entry in third place.
Ford has constructed a strong repute as all the time being a model to beat on the three.56-mile DIS highway course, and that aggressive presence continues and shall be celebrated each subsequent 12 months and this weekend on the HSR Traditional Daytona 24. The eleventh operating of the HSR Traditional Daytona 24 Hour takes place this weekend, November 5 – 9, 2025.
A frequent HSR competitor is Ford Motor Firm CEO Jim Farley, who joined legendary Formulation 1 designer, engineer and technical wizard Adrian Newey in Newey’s 1965 No. 5 Ford GT40 Mk I (pictured at backside) within the 2023 HSR Traditional Daytona 24. The ability duo completed an in depth third in Run Group A.
In one other one of many 2023 race’s sturdy performances, an immaculate Ford-powered 1979 No. 35 De Tomaso Pantera, piloted by veteran top-tier sports activities automotive driver and Le Mans class winner Ralf Kelleners, took management of Run Group B from the inexperienced flag. The decisive victory for the winged, wide-bodied and flame-throwing GT machine was a well-liked one for the stainless Pantera that was an on the spot fan and paddock favourite.
