 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Motorsport |
| Founded | 1992 |
| Headquarters | Markham, Ontario Canada |
Key people | Larry Holt, Team Principal Sean Mason, Team Manager |
| Website | http://www.multimaticmotorsports.com |
Multimatic Motorsports is the competition arm ofMultimatic's Special Vehicle Operations division. Founded in 1992, the team has competed in numeroussports car racing series, including theMichelin Pilot Challenge,IMSA SportsCar Championship, andFIA World Endurance Championship, as well as starts in the24 Hours of Le Mans, most notably winning in2016 withFordChip Ganassi Racing in theFord GT LM GTE.[1]
In late 2015, the organization set up Multimatic Motorsports Europe in Greatworth Park,United Kingdom, as a stand-alone base for itsFIA World Endurance Championship LMGTE Pro effort, campaigningFord GTs on behalf ofFord Chip Ganassi Racing.[2]
Having developed theFord Mustang GT4 with support from its parent divisionMultimatic Engineering, Multimatic Motorsports currently constructs, sells and provides support for the globally homologated Mustang GT4 forFord Performance from Multimatic Technical Centre in Markham, Ontario.
In 2017, theLMP2 prototype class saw a new set regulations, and Multimatic, in a joint venture withRiley Technologies, was selected as one of the four chassis manufacturers.[3] Riley and Multimatic unveiled theRiley-Multimatic MkXXX as their car for the new set of LMP2 regulations.[4] Together, they would work on the car's bodywork and aero, and Multimatic would be responsible for the development of the chassis as well as its design, whereas Riley were in charge of the car's mechanical components.[5] TheMazda RT24-P was also born out of the project to compete in the newDPi regulations that were unveiled in the same year.[4]
Their chassis was evolved for 2023, as Multimatic was selected as one of the four chassis suppliers for the newLMDh ruleset, one of two categories that would replace the outgoingLMP1 regulations, as well asDPi in North America.[6] Currently,Porsche is supplied the chassis by Multimatic, which has seen considerable success thanks to Porsche's963,[7] having accumulated multiple wins and a championship since the car's debut at the2023 24 Hours of Daytona.[8][9]Audi was also set to compete with a Multimatic chassis, but this was stopped after Audi scrapped their LMDh project only weeks away from completing internal testing in favor of committing to theirFormula One efforts.[10]
Multimatic Motorsports has signed a number of different professional drivers over the years across a range of disciplines, includingsports car racing,stock car racing, andrallying. As of 2025, they have twelve drivers, consisting of drivers such asHarry Tincknell,Mike Rockenfeller, andChristopher Mies.[11]
1992 – Won the Sports Class of the Canadian Firestone Firehawk Championship in the team's first year of competition. Scott Maxwell joined the team as primary driver of a factory supported Ford Taurus SHO. Maxwell won the Driver's Championship by a 600-point margin.
1993 – Won the Sports Class of the Canadian Endurance Road Racing Championship. Scott Maxwell won a second straight National Driver's Championship.
1995 – Engineered, developed and built an IMSA GTS class Mustang tube frame car which finished on the podium in its first outing at Lime Rock Park. Also won the four-door sedan class of the Car & DriverOne Lap of America with a Ford Aluminum Intensive Vehicle (AIV).
1999 – WonFord its first ever Manufacturer's Championship in showroom stock racing while campaigning three Ford Mustang Cobras in the Motorola Cup North American Street Stock Championship.
2000 – Entered the2000 24 Hours of Le Mans with aLola B2K/40 using aMultimatic designed and built chassis. Multimatic Motorsports and drivers Scott Maxwell, David Empringham and Greg Wilkins won the LMP675 class. This is the only time a Canadian motorsports organization has won at the French endurance classic.[1]
2002 – Won theGrand Am Cup Championship campaigning two Porsche GT3 Cup[12] cars on behalf of Doncaster Racing. Scott Maxwell won the Driver's Championship.[2]
2003 – Inaugural Daytona Prototype class winner at the24 Hours of Daytona with theFord Focus Daytona Prototype race car – designed, engineered and built by Multimatic.
2005 – Won theGrand Am Cup Championship campaigning the Multimatic designed, built and developed Ford Mustang FR500C. Multimatic driverDavid Empringham won the Driver's Championship.[3]
2006 – GT2 class winner at the2006 12 Hours of Sebring competing as Multimatic Motorsports Team Panoz with aPanoz Esperante GTLM.[4]
2008 – Won theKONI Sports Car Challenge GS title campaigning twoFord Mustang FR500C cars on behalf of Hyper Sport Racing. Scott Maxwell won the Driver's Championship with Joe Foster.[5]
2010 – Tasked byFord Racing to engineer and build the new Mustang Boss 302R race car. Campaigned a two-car entry in theGrand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge GS class for drivers Scott Maxwell, Joe Foster, Frank Montecalvo and Gunnar Jeannette. The duo of Maxwell and Foster posted three poles during the season (Barber, VIR and Trois-Rivieres)[6], but race results were hampered by reliability issues with the new car.
2011 – Multimatic Motorsports returned to theGrand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge with the #15 Mustang Boss 302R race car. Off season development by the team andFord Racing made the car competitive in the GS class – Foster and Maxwell won at Barber and finished second at Daytona.[7]
2012 – Multimatic Motorsports celebrated its 20th anniversary by launching the largest racing program in its history[8]; campaigning four cars in theGrand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. Multimatic Motorsports became an official partner toAston Martin Racing, and debuted theAston Martin Vantage V8 Grand-Am race car in the GS class. Notably Scott Maxwell and Joe Foster finished second atBarber Motorsports Park and third atLime Rock Park. Tonis Kasemets and Jade Buford earned a third atMazda Raceway Laguna Seca. All told, the Aston Martins earned five top ten finishes during the year.
Also during 2012, Multimatic Motorsports debuted the turn-keyFord Racing Focus ST-R in the ST class, which is a racing version of theFord Focus ST road car. The ST-R was under development during the year, and secured a respectable 5 top ten positions.[9]
2013 – Multimatic Motorsports continued itsGrand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge with threeAston Martin Vantage V8 Grand-Am race cars. The cars competed in the GS class.
2014 – Multimatic Motorsports reverted to its previously campaigned Ford Mustang Boss 302Rs for theContinental Tire Sports Car Challenge. The two cars (No. 15 forScott Maxwell and Jade Buford, and No. 158 forBilly Johnson and Ian James) competed in the GS class in the colors of team partners Miller Racing. Maxwell and Buford finished the season tied 4th in points.[10]Archived 2015-04-10 at theWayback Machine
2015 – Multimatic Motorsports continued with Ford Mustang Boss 302Rs for the first three rounds of theContinental Tire Sports Car Challenge before debuting the newFord Performance Shelby GT350 R-C at Lime Rock Park.[13] The car exhibited competitive pace almost immediately, scoring three wins in its debut season.[14]
2016 – Multimatic Motorsports won the 2016Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge team championship with theFord Performance Shelby GT350R-C. Multimatic driversBilly Johnson andScott Maxwell also won the drivers championship.[15] Multimatic also set up a UK motorsport base, Multimatic Motorsports Europe,[16] to operateFord Chip Ganassi Racing'sFIA WEC LMGTE Pro effort. The operation netted its first win with a 1–2 finish in round 7 atFuji Speedway in Japan.[17]
2017 – Multimatic Motorsports did not contest the 2017 IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. Instead, the company focused on homologating and constructing the new-for-2017Mustang GT4 for use by customer teams in worldwide GT4 competition. Multimatic Motorsports Europe continued to field a two-car Ford GT team under theFord Chip Ganassi Racing banner inFIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) competition, delivering two wins and a 2nd-place finish at Le Mans.
2018 – Multimatic Motorsports continued to supplyMustang GT4 cars to teams competing globally in the GT4-class while Multimatic Motorsports Europe again fielded a two-car Ford GT team under theFord Chip Ganassi Racing banner inFIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) competition.
2019 – Multimatic Motorsports made a double car entry in the GT4 class for the2019 British GT Championship with Canadian driverScott Maxwell andSebastian Priaulx, son of 3-timeWTCCAndy.[18] The second car was to be driven by the American duo of formerNASCAR driverChad McCumbee andJade Buford.[19] Maxwell and Priaulx started the first two races by claiming both pole positions and the win in race 2 while McCumbee and Buford finished 4th and 8th respectively. The team later hadHarrison Newey, son ofFormula One engineerAdrian Newey, Olympic cyclist championChris Hoy, Jack Roush Jr., son of NASCAR team owner and hall of frame inducteeJack Roush and 3-timeWorld Touring Car championAndy Priaulx.
Maxwell and Priaulx were in contention for the GT4 title, going into the final round atDonington Park, againstTF Sport's Tom Canning and Ashley Hand. The sister car of Ashley Davies and Marco Signoretti retired after a collision on the formation lap. The number 15 car managed to get into 2nd place in GT4 but it wasn't enough to seal the title and they finished 2nd 8.5 points behind.[20] Throughout the season, Chris Hoy,Billy Johnson, Chad McCumbee, Jade Buford, Richard Meaden and Jack Roush Jr. all scored points for the team but Multimatic Motorsports only just clinched 3rd in the teams' standings tied on points with HHC Motorsport.
Not the teamMultimatic Motorsports, but the constructorMultimatic, supplied race car chassis:
| Year | Car | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Multimatic MDP1 | DP |
| 2017 | Mazda RT24-P | DPi |
| Riley-Multimatic MkXXX | LMP2 | |
| 2023 | Porsche 963 | LMDh |
