Evans looking ahead to the 2026 GT4 European Championship

Erik Evans placed sixth overall in his third full season of racing in the GT4 European Series. Driving the No. 61 Academy Motorsports Ford Mustang S650 GT4, Evans will be back to the GT4 European Series in 2026.

“We’re less than 35 days away from the first race of the year at Paul Ricard,” he said. “The next bit is just getting that last part of preparation in. I’m going back to the Ford simulator to do a full race weekend of preparation. Basically we’ll run through the whole entire race weekend, and explore setups and explore things to try. We’ll have an army of engineers and we’ll be working through race simulations and practice simulation and testing simulations before we even show up. From there we go straight into our first preseason test, which will be at Paul Ricard at the end of March. Then we have a week off and then it’s the first race of the season.

“Nothing on the car has changed from last year’s car. Basically, the preseason test is just about the car being fully rebuilt over the winter. We’ll now need to do all the systems checks and go through and make sure everything is good on the cars. We’ll knock all the rust off of us drivers, as well, because I haven’t actually driven the car since the last race of the year in Barcelona. Hopefully, by the end of the test, we’re dialing in the specifics of whatever setup that we want to run.”

About to begin his fourth season of GT4 racing, Evans has continued to gain experience and knowledge.

“This will be fourth season in GT Racing and my third season in the European Championship,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to it. We’ve spent the past two years really dialing everything in. Last year we had a really good year. We had multiple wins, multiple podiums and we even led the championship at one point. I think that was a huge confidence boost. We ended up sixth overall. We had a big spell of bad luck through the middle part of the season there.

"Myself, Academy Motorsports and Ford, we all learned so much last year on what it takes to win the championship. We were able to win races and take that extra step. You’ve got to take the next step up from winning races to managing the championship. I’m so excited for it in 2026. We had it in our power last year, but like I said, we had a bunch of things that just did not go our way in terms of luck. You can’t really do anything about it when you get taken out here and there. Or we would have the mechanical failure that never happens at the wrong time. I’m totally excited for this year. I think we all know what it takes, and each member of the team knows what is expected of them. I think that’s a really good place to be.”

Evans believes he is going to win in 2026.

“I’ve always been a firm believer of, why show up if you’re not going for the win," he said. "I’m not in racing for a participation trophy. I’m always going for that title. And we’ll go to Paul Ricard, Monza, Spa, Misano, Zandvoort and Portimao. All these tracks are super-iconic. I’ve now been to them all. This will be my first year in the European Championship where I have raced at every single one of those tracks. I’m quite excited for that.

"I’ve been to all of them. I know the layouts. I know all the little tricks to get around them quickly. They’re also so cool just from the standpoint that they’re all super-iconic and they all have these awesome attributes to them that the rest of the tracks around the world don’t have. I’m super excited for that, and the calendar the European Championship puts together is always incredible.

"When I first started racing the European Championship it was a bit surreal just because growing up you watch Formula 1 and you watch the World Endurance Championship and you think, ‘Oh man, how cool would it be to race on one of those tracks?’ You get to do it, and it’s a bit surreal. You definitely enjoy it, but you also have to remember that there is also a job to get done and that you’ve just go to treat it like it’s any other track or any other weekend. It’s all really cool, but you also have to stay level headed.

"With the Mustang, we won at Paul Ricard last year. That track is actually at the top of my mind. Zandvoort is another one. Zandvoort is an absolutely awesome track. It’s a super-old school track. It’s really narrow, no runoff. Just a little strip of grass and a metal guardrail. It’s like they had back in the day. Spa has always been an awesome track. Going up Eau Rouge and the Kemmel Straight is amazing. I have NOT driven Portimao with the new generation of the Mustang. I feel like that’s going to be a good track. It’s one of my personal favorite tracks. That place is like an absolute rollercoaster and I love it.”

And Evans’ racing goals for the 2026 GT4 European Championship?

“I think we’ve already proven that me and my team and Ford have the speed," he said. "We’ve proven as a group that we can go out and win in this absolutely competitive championship. I’ve been pushing myself to maximize every single little detail that I can. I want to understand everything to the fullest extent and taking that extra step of understanding and maximizing. If I can do anything one percent better, that’s what I’m trying to do.

"I don’t want to be treated any different as a driver just because I’m American. I’m super-proud to be an American and racing an American car with such an iconic American brand in Ford. All the fans absolutely love the Mustang. It’s so different from everything else out there. And it sounds so different! That V8 sound of freedom and that big old muscle car that’s hanging with McLarens and Porsches around the corners. It’s really cool and the fans absolutely love it.

"My long-term goal in Europe is obviously to make the step up to a full factory ride. It’s one of those things of making that step up into the full factory ride and competing in the biggest races in the world like the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring. Big races like that. That’s the goal. And I’m excited that Ford is jumping into the Hypercar program. The top class of endurance racing. To be able to compete at those races overall and to win them overall is that next step. I want to take that next step up and compete in the Hypercar class with the Ford Hypercar that’s coming here in 2027.”