If you’re a Ford fan, you already know the original Ford GT finished 1-2-3 at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans, perhaps the most prestigious race in the world. Ford beat Ferrari at its own game, and not only at the 1966 race, but also in 1967, 1968, and 1969. With January’s announcement of a new Ford GT, the company announced today the car will return to the scene of the crime in 2016, to once again do battle with the world’s best in competition.

Photos courtesy of Ford. Working with Ford on the Ford GT Le Mans program is Multimatic Motorsports, Roush Yates Engines, Castrol, Michelin, Forza Motorsport, Sparco, Brembo, and CGRFS, All involved have been working to make the Ford GT a world-beating race car, just like the original.

The car will actually make its debut at the Rolex 24-hour race at Daytona in January of 2016, and run both the FIA World Endurance Championship and the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. There will be two Ford teams made up of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS). For Le Mans specifically, it will be a four-car team effort, but drivers haven’t been named as of this writing.

“As we developed the Ford GT, from the outset we wanted to ensure we had a car that has what it takes to return Ford to the world of GT racing,” said Raj Nair, Ford Motor Company group vice president, Global Product Development and chief technical officer.

The EcoBoost 3.5-liter V6 is being developed by Roush Yates Engines, and is the same design that won the 12 Hours of Sebring and the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

As it has been in the past, the Ford GT represents the top shelf of Ford Performance, and everything trickles down from there. Therefore, the technology put into the Ford GT will no doubt spread out into other Ford Performance vehicles such as the Focus RS, F-150 Raptor, Shelby GT350 and GT350R, Focus ST, and even the diminutive Fiesta ST.

No, not all of these cars will compete at Le Mans like the Ford GT, but the technology and spirit that has gone into the Ford GT, goes into those cars, as well. This vehicle line-up has performance covered from top to bottom.

Let’s hope the Ford GT’s Le Mans 2016 debut has finishing positions 1-4 covered. One can only hope.