Ford Performance Season Launch Previews A Faster 2025

The year isn’t even a month old, and Ford Performance is already standing on the gas. Hot on the heels of the Mustang GT3’s first global victory in Daytona, Ford Motor Company hosted a huge promotional shindig designed to spotlight a series of Ford Performance high-performance and racing announcements for the coming year.

Over the day on January 30, the company unleashed a slew of performance news that began with a tease of two forthcoming crate engines from Ford Performance Parts — Whipple-supercharged versions of the Dark Horse Coyote and Godzilla engines. Then, they celebrated 15 years of the Raptor with a look back at the brand’s evolution across Bronco, F-150, and Ranger versions and committed to more Raptor performance in the future.

From off-road excellence to the pinnacle of road racing, Ford Performance shared how its partnership with Red Bull’s Formula 1 program is yielding technology transfer benefits for its production vehicles. Then they showed off a beautiful new livery for the Mustang GT3 racers competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship series, as well as a new Junior Driver development program designed to foster new racing talent behind the wheel of Ford Mustangs in competition.

In keeping with the global theme, Ford bestowed its prestigious Spirit of Ford award on Australian racing legend Dick Johnson, who piloted Ford vehicles for 22 seasons in the Supercars series and earned five championships. His Dick Johnson Racing team continues that momentum with 10 championships and 148 race wins so far. He joins a storied list of more than 25 Ford icons to receive this honor. “Dick himself has been a loyal, talented, witty, and intense competitor on the track as a driver, with the media and fans, and now as a team owner,” Edsel Ford III said. “Just as important, he is a treasured friend of mine and all of us at Ford.

While Ford remains committed to internal combustion performance and V8 engines, the company is still pursuing high-performance electric vehicles as well. This was evidenced by the revelation during the 2025 Season Launch of the Mustang Mach-E NASCAR prototype, which is eerily similar to the OG Mach-E 1400 demonstrator. This forebodes an interesting future on the superspeedways, and in the near term, a teaser shows that an aggressive Mach E will become the next Blue Oval EV to take on the daunting Pikes Peak hill climb.

Ford Performance also offered a look at its new Mustang GT3 entry in the GT World Challenge America road racing class, which features 13 rounds of competition at seven road courses across the United States.

The final news of the evening was the reveal that Ford would field a hyper car in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2027, which includes a return to Le Mans.

In all, it looks to be an exciting year for Ford Performance efforts across the globe, and any blue-blooded Ford fan must appreciate seeing the Mustang galloping for glory across so many sanctions around the world.

15 Years Of Raptor

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“As we celebrate 15 years of Raptor, we’re proud of how far we’ve come – but we’re even more excited about what’s next because the future of off-road performance is always evolving…” Mark Rushbrook, Global director of Ford Performance, said. “That’s our Raptor brand promise. It’s about no-compromise capability and the thrill of pushing boundaries. It invites drivers to embrace adventure and conquer new challenges, creating stories and memories as they go. The road to get to this point, well, let’s just say it was as challenging as the Baja terrain every Raptor vehicle is designed for. And that’s just the way we like it.”

F1 Tech Transfer

Among the benefits of Ford Performance’s partnership with the Red Bull Formula 1 team was the use of the Non-Destructive Engineering team scanning tools to detect a glue issue that caused headlight condensation on the production F-150. “We’re pulling in all of these Ford teams with all of these areas of expertise to help in the program,” Ford Performance Motorsports Powertrain Manager Christian Hertrich said. “It’s not just the motorsport group working on this. It’s amazing to see how many different areas of the company have already been involved.”

Fresh WEC Livery

Ford Performance revealed fresh liveries for the Team Proton Competition-backed Mustang GT3s competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Ben Barker, Ben Tuck, and Bernardo Sousa pilot the No. 77 car, while Dennis Olsen, Giammarco Levorato, and Stefano Gattuso drive the No. 88 Mustang.

Junior Driver Program

Ford Performance’s new Junior Drive program is designed to mentor up-and-coming drivers behind the wheel of Mustangs. “No one else can offer that familiarity and the increasing challenges up the motorsport pyramid. One goal of the Ford Performance Driver Development Program: To better prepare drivers for how intense racing — at any level — can be,” Tamara Falkenstein, Ford Performance Manager of Driving Experiences, explained. “Of course, we keep our eye on the stopwatch. We are all competitors, but the experience is about more than winning. That’s why drivers involved in the development program will compete in race series around the globe under the mentorship of some of the best minds in motorsports.”

Spirit Of Ford Award

Australian Supercars legend and the face of Ford Performance down under, Dick Johnson became the latest icon to receive the Spirit of Ford award for his numerous contributions to the company’s racing success.

Mustang Mach-E NASCAR Prototype

Could we eventually see electric vehicles mixing it up in NASCAR? The idea of silent race cars on America’s oval racetracks might be disconcerting for many fans, but this Mustang Mach-E NASCAR prototype shows it is possible. Combining tech from Ford’s performance EVS with brakes, steering, suspension, and wheels from modern NASCAR Cup Series cars, this prototype features a full-carbon-fiber tub, three motors, and a 78 kWh battery.

Monster Mach-E Demonstrator

The NASCAR prototype wasn’t the only EV to earn the spotlight during the 2025 Season Launch. Ford Performance also teased a shadowy, but aggressive Mustang Mach-E-based Electric Vehicle Demonstrator set to take on the legendary Pikes Peak hill climb with Romain Dumas in the driver’s seat. It will become the third Ford Performance EV in a row to do so, following in the tire tracks of the SuperVan 4.2 and F-150 Lightning SuperTruck.

World Challenge Renders

Ford Performance also announced that the Mustang GT3 would enter the fray in the GT World Challenge America in the United States with a virtual look at what the car will look like.

Return To Le Mans

Showing a long-term commitment to the highest levels of racing. Ford teased that it would enter a hyper car FIA World Endurance Championship in 2027, which includes a return to Le Mans, where the GT40 and Ford GT enjoyed so much success.

“We are entering a new era for performance and racing at Ford. You can see it from what we’re doing on-road and off-road. When we race, we race to win. And there is no track or race that means more to our history than Le Mans,” Bill Ford, Ford Motor Company Executive Chair, said. “It is where we took on Ferrari and won in the 1960s. It is where we returned 50 years later and shocked the world and beat Ferrari again. I am thrilled that we’re going back to Le Mans and competing at the highest level of endurance racing. We are ready to once again challenge the world, and ‘go like hell!’”

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About the author

Steve Turner

Steve Turner brings decades of passion and knowledge in the world of Ford performance, having covered it for over 20 years. From the swan song of the Fox Mustang to the birth of the Coyote, Steve had a front-row seat.
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