The 2026 season will see Ford introduce the Mustang GT3 Evo, an early mid-cycle update to its GT3 contender. A key player in the update has been HRT, which runs the car in the DTM, among other categories.
HRT was forced to postpone the test debut of the new Evo package for the Mustang for a second time. In mid-December at Portimao, a consequential technical issue following a customer crash was the cause, while poor weather in Estoril in January prevented the Evo from making its first planned appearance. The plan is now to run the test in early February in Portimao, as team principal Ulrich Fritz revealed.
“A lot of areas have been addressed — and I believe the biggest challenges of the car have been tackled,” Fritz told Motorsport.com’s sister title Motorsport-Total.com.
He is convinced: “In theory, these are the right measures. The data also looks promising. So I believe this is a step in the right direction.”
Where the Ford Mustang GT3’s weak point lies
In its first DTM season, the Ford Mustang struggled with a lack of front-end downforce. That made it difficult to hustle the car through corners, especially given its long wheelbase, which already limits agility. On top of that, the tyres overheated quickly and there was still room for improvement in braking performance.
This made it difficult to bring the Mustang GT3 into the same performance window as its rivals under Balance of Performance regulations.
“The BoP officials could give us a huge restrictor, which made the car much faster on the straights than anything else — but you don’t win races like that,” Fritz explained.
“If you’re driving a Mercedes that struggles with top speed, that thing just whistles past you. And in the corners, you’re more of an obstacle.”
Ford Mustang GT3 Evo
Photo by: Haupt Racing Team/smg
Overheating and pitstops: New wheels set to fix the issues
The update is intended to make the Mustang GT3 more competitive overall. “We have a new braking system that, in theory, should generate less heat,” Fritz said. “But the main topic is that we’re getting new wheels that should have better heat management.”
Because the wheel now conducts less heat, overall temperatures should not rise as much. “Our problem was that the tyre was getting far too hot,” said Fritz.
In addition, according to him, the new wheels are designed to act like a kind of “extractor”, helping to pull hot air out of the wheel well.
“They are much more open,” he said of the new rims. “They should also be better for pitstops, which was another one of our problems. And I think that’s actually a fairly big change.”
HRT mechanics repeatedly lost time during tyre changes because they couldn’t get a proper grip on the wheel. That should now be a thing of the past thanks to the update.
What HRT expects from the Mustang update in the DTM
Asked what he expects from the update in DTM, Fritz replied with a counter-question: “Will the car wipe the floor with everything at Oschersleben? No, I don’t think so. The concept just isn’t suited to that — with the long wheelbase and so on. Will we be in a better position than last year? Yes, I’m certain of that.”
It is understood that HRT’s input played a major role in the development of the Mustang update. Evidence of this is the fact that the two new flaps at the front of the car were already tested a year ago on the Nurburgring Nordschleife. “These aren’t amateurs,” Fritz said, referring to the other Ford teams, who were equally aware of the car’s weak points.
However, HRT provided significant input, particularly with Pirelli and Yokohama tyres on the Nordschleife. “We definitely gathered the most data of anyone, because we fielded the most cars,” Fritz explained. “I think there were 14 Mustangs running regularly last year, eight of them from us alone.”
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