The rumors, the buzz? Confirmed. Ford will unveil a GT-successor at January’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit, as anticipated.

Sources close to the program have confirmed to Autoweek that the car -- whether or not it is actually named “GT” in production guise, which it very well might not be -- will undertake a full, factory-backed racing effort in 2016. Specifically, a full-season, two-car effort in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship and, most significantly, the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The two-car assault will be campaigned by IndyCar -- and Tudor Series -- stalwart, and full-time NASCAR entrant, Chip Ganassi Racing when the United SportsCar Championship opens 2016 with the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Ganassi is presently Ford’s lone Prototype-class representative in United SportsCar (following Michael Shank Racing's recent switch to Honda for 2015), where it campaigns a Riley-Ford EcoBoost Daytona Prototype. The team switched from BMW to turbocharged-V6 Ford EcoBoost power for the recently completed 2014 season, winning the 12 Hours of Sebring, as well as on the streets of Long Beach, Calif., and at Circuit of the Americas in Texas, on its way to finishing fourth in the championship.

As rumored, the race car is indeed being built by Canada-based Multimatic Motorsports, with which Ford has a relationship spanning more than 20 years. Among its racing highlights, Multimatic won the LMP675-class at Le Mans in 2000, the GT2 class at Sebring in 2006, and the Daytona Prototype class at the 2003 Rolex 24 at Daytona, the latter with a Ford-powered DP in the former Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series (now merged with the American Le Mans Series as the Tudor series). It has also developed well-known racing Mustangs, such as the FR500C and Boss 302R. The FR500C claimed the 2005 Grand-Am Cup championship, as well as the 2008 Koni Sports Car Challenge title.

Contrary to recent speculation, our sources say, January’s reveal of the road car in Detroit is not expected to include an announcement of the racing program. Ford's auto show press conference is scheduled for 9:10 a.m. EST on Monday, Jan. 12. Our sources say official confirmation of the competition agenda will come in several months, though the announcement strategy could change between now and the Detroit show.

Ganassi’s effort will be led by veteran Californian driver Scott Pruett, who with Ganassi has claimed five championships in Grand-Am’s Daytona Prototype class, and five wins in the Rolex 24 (four of those with Ganassi). He also won the GTS-class at Le Mans in 2001, driving a Chevrolet Corvette with Johnny O'Connell and Ron Fellows. Earlier this week, Pruett’s long-time Ganassi teammate Memo Rojas announced he will not return to the team next season; Ganassi then confirmed it signed Californian Joey Hand to partner Pruett. The acquisition of the now ex-BMW factory driver means Ford will have at its disposal a top-notch, all-American lineup in at least one car when it attempts to win the GTLM class at Le Mans -- 50 years after its GT40 Mk. II won the world’s biggest sports-car race in the hands of Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon. That duo led a GT40 sweep of the race’s top-three finishing positions, capping Henry Ford II’s well-documented feud with Enzo Ferrari.

The drivers of the other “GT” remain to be determined, and details about the car -- both road and race versions -- remain scarce, even down to the official name. One source said he did not necessarily expect it to carry the “GT” name, and noted that it is not a “retro” design in the same vein as the Ford GT exotic car the company built and sold a decade ago.

Ganassi’s announcement this week that Ford has stepped in to become its sports-car team’s primary backer, and the Blue Oval’s commitment to relatively small-displacement, forced-induction engines, make it easy to speculate that the road and/or race car will feature a version of Ford’s twin-turbo EcoBoost V6. Then again, Ford also has a new, flat-plane crank V8 -- powering the new road-going Shelby GT350 Mustang -- in its arsenal. And then there's the small matter of Le Mans regulations being destined to change again by 2016. Regardless of what they actually are, engine specs and other technical details remain unknown as Ford has done an impressive job of keeping everything under wraps.

One thing is clear, though: The new car should serve as a “halo” vehicle, or at least top-of-the-line offering, from the newly organized Ford Performance division. Ford Performance now encompasses its Special Vehicles Team (SVT) in the U.S., Europe’s Team RS and Ford Racing globally. Ford Performance announced recently that it will bring the long-awaited Focus RS and 11 additional performance vehicles to the U.S. market within the next six years. As the new “GT” program gears up to do battle in the GTLM class against rival entries from Porsche, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Aston Martin and BMW, there might be no better way for Ford to re-establish itself as a serious performance-car player. It’s certainly the perfect way to celebrate 2016’s 50th anniversary of the company’s very first Le Mans overall win with the original GT40.

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