- TeamFloral-Vanspringel kicks off its European campaign with the race in Spa-Francorchamps
- The Mustang GT4, Ford Performance’s latest creation, premieres at 24 Hours of Spa
- Successful collaboration between TeamFloral with Ford Performance and Ford Vanspringel
Soon after the introduction of the new Mustang, Ford Performance unveiled its racing versions of the sports car with American roots, with the GT3 for the premier class and a new GT4 built for competitions. The GT4 version of the iconic American speedster already competes in countless overseas races run by private teams and will make its racing debut on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit during the last weekend of June, as a taster of the Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa.
TeamFloral with Vanspringel
TeamFloral’s fruitful partnership with Ford, M-Sport and Ford Performance dates back to the late 1980s. The West Flanders team was thus the ideal choice as Ford Performance’s preferred partner to introduce the Mustang GT4 to the paddocks of the old continent. The team was last involved in track racing in the early years of the Fiesta Sprint Cup. It was there that TeamFloral connected with other die-hard Ford drivers, including the Vanspringel family, who ran the Vanspringel Automobiles franchise in Wavre.
In the meantime, their youngest son, Nathan Vanspringel, was making a name for himself with his impressive times and outstanding performances. For example, in 2019, he emerged as the champion of the Fiesta Sprint Cup, made the podium on several occasions, and clinched a resounding victory at the 2023 Spa 12 Hours with the Team VDS Mustang. And that was all TeamFloral and Team Vanspringel needed to team up and launch the GT4 together.
Patrick Vanspringel: ‘It was Stéphane Lémeret who kickstarted this thrilling adventure early last year when he told me that a Mustang GT4 built by Multimatic was available. Although we’d had a great experience with the Fiesta Sprint Cup programme, we didn’t feel quite ready for GT4. We heard TeamFloral was developing a programme for GT4 too and was in search of a partner, which is how we ended up connecting. Both our companies are incredibly similar. After all, our franchise and Floral’s team have worked faithfully under the Ford brand for decades. Vanspringel Automobile remains loyal to Ford and wants the brand to shine both in its commercial activities and in sporting events.’
This means that Nathan Vanspringel will be driving the very first European Mustang GT4. ‘I’m about to take on an exciting new challenge at European level, with the most important GT4 championship in the world, competing against a slew of amazing young drivers and factory teams. I’m thrilled that I can start this adventure under the Ford banner as Belgian drivers on our favourite circuit. We have big dreams, but we need to stay grounded. After all, we haven’t driven a single lap with the car yet,’ Nathan points out.
First-class championship
The GT4 European Series championship, is renowned for being one of the toughest races in the calendar of global motorsport, with high-level, varied plateaus within which the new Ford Mustang GT4 will have no trouble asserting itself as a muscle car. The American Mustang GT4 was developed in close cooperation with Multimatic, who partnered with Ford on the development of the Mustang GT3 and, of course, boasts a powerful five-litre V8 under the bonnet.
Each championship meeting consists of two 60-minute races, with mandatory pit stops during each race. TeamFloral-Vanspringel will participate in the championship, starting with Spa, and will also race at Hockenheim, Monza and Jeddah. Their ultimate goal is to have two cars competing in all GT4 European Series races by 2025. Nathan Vanspringel will drive the full season. The name of a second driver will be confirmed soon.
The race for the race
Jean-Marc Valckenaere, the man at the helm of TeamFloral: ‘Our long-standing collaboration with Ford Performance has consistently delivered amazing results. And, of course, we want that to continue. For us, collaborating with Ford Performance is like reconnecting with a childhood friend. It feels good right from the start. We can’t wait for the car to get here so we can drive the first kilometres with it. The dedication and drive of the teams at Ford Performance and Multimatic were really amazing and created a positive, energising rivalry within our structure. We’re eager to capitalise on that positive energy on the track as fast as we can.’
But first, TeamFloral-Vanspringel must face another challenge. After all, it has to prepare and debug the car before it can run its first race on the challenging and legendary Spa circuit on 28 and 29 June.