Ford GT Leads Sexy 2016 Class Of New Daytona 24 Hours Race Cars

The Daytona 24 Hours endurance race serves as the auto racing world’s annual kickoff, and this year there’s a righteous amount of new metal and engineering to watch. Among Daytona’s various classes of race cars, the two based on production vehicles will feature a roundelay of manufacturers—Chevrolet, Ford, Audi, Porsche, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Aston Martin—competing for their pride as much as the checkered flag.

This year’s race includes the high-profile debut of the Ford GT, the supercar Ford will put into production from its race-car building shop Multimatic late this year. But the race will also feature the U.S. racing debut of the Ferrari 488 GTE, new Audi R8 and BMW M6 racers. Le Mans-class GT racing has become one of the most competitive motorsports in the world, and something about seeing a variety of cars rather than a cookie-cutter approach of other racing series makes the action that much more attractive. Check out the first batch of photos from the track.