Evans looking ahead to the 2025 GT4 European Series

American racer Erik Evans on competing in the 2024 GT4 European Series powered by RAFA Racing Club.

“Myself, Multimatic and Ford Performance all have a goal to go and win that championship next year,” said Evans shortly after placing eight overall in the 2024 GT4 European Series point standings. “It’s just about putting it all together and making sure that we get it right, because you need to be performing at 110-percent each one of those weekends to win the championship in that competitive of a series.”

Contesting a two-front war in 2024 in also placing sixth in the British GT4 Championship, Evans and the No. 61 Ford Mustang S650 GT4 will focus exclusively on the GT4 European Series, which starts April 12-12, 2025 at the Circuit Paul Ricard in France.

“This series is the hardest and most challenging GT4 championship in the world and it would mean a lot, not only from a driver’s standpoint but also from a manufacturer’s standpoint, to win this championship," he said.

"So Ford and Multimatic Motorsports together are putting faith in me and Academy Motorsport and my teammate Marco Signoretti to go try to win this championship."

Academy Motorsport team boss Matt Nicoll-Jones recently spoke about the team and organization being so new on so many levels in getting up to speed in GT4.

“We definitely have some unfinished business from last year,” said Nicoll-Jones. “We learned so much driving our first season with the new Mustang, and it’s never easy tackling a new championship and new circuits with a new car. However, we’re familiar with a lot of things now and we made huge progress with the setup and operation of the Mustang to the point we were fighting for outright wins by the end of the year.”

Evans agrees.

“That is 100 percent true," he said. "Yes, a new championship, a new generation of car, and I had never been to any of the racetracks before, so it was definitely like a 'throw yourself in the deep end' deal.

“Basically, we just came into GT4 with a blank piece of paper. We brought a totally brand new car to the European market. It was something that was definitely a challenge, but this amazing team and from the amazing support from Ford and Multimatic Motorsports, we just pushed through and got up to speed pretty quickly.

“I felt extremely proud of what we showed in 2024. We finished eighth in the championship. To come out and finish in the top 10 in this championship and having it be new to not only myself, but to my teammate Marco Signoretti and to have a brand new car that was new to us, it was all fantastic. We even had the opportunities where we led some races and we got some podiums. I would say it was a very, very, very proud effort that we put in.”

Now the focus is on the approaching six-round 2025 GT4 European Series.

“Everyone here feels extremely good about the season," he said. "We got a couple of new upgrades to the car that me and my teammate Marco worked on last year in some development testing. It’s new systems and stuff, and I’m quite excited about it. The team seems really confident and everyone around us seems really confident that we are going to get a really good shot to go out there and do a really good job this year. I’m super-excited about it. I tell you what, though. I’m tiring of sitting around. I’m ready to race.”

Ford Performance has been supporting Evans and the No. 61 effort throughout the entire R&D testing process.

“Ford is stoked. All they want to do is win. They want to win as bad as the drivers do," Evans said. "They really show that in their initiative and how they go about things. To be a part of the Ford Performance Development Program is excellent. When you get to this GT racing, the goal is to become a manufacturer factory driver and be able to compete in the biggest races. Ultimately, I want to go out and win the biggest sportscar races you can such as the 24 Hours At Daytona, Le Mans, Spa, all of them.”