It looked like the new Mustang GT4 might be headed for a storybook finish in its first race, but it just wasn’t to be. Thanks to parts failures and penalties the top-running Mustangs were taken out of the mix while their German competitors prospered. Still the latest Mustang road racer from Ford Performance showed incredible promise.

“There’s not much to say about the car,” Dean Martin, of Kohr Motorsports, said. “It’s just awesome. This new format and the parts that the Multimatic guys have designated for the car and the way it’s been developed, it’s just fantastic. The Ford guys did such a great job with the aero. The car is just easy to drive, fun to drive. We had a little issue today and we’re going to figure it out and move on and start winning some races.”

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After setting the pace by winning the pole in qualifying, the Kohr Motorsports GT4 driven by Dean Martin and Jack Roush Jr. suffered a broken halfshaft, which removed it from competition with 30 minutes left in the race.

The issue on Dean’s ride had was a broken halfshaft, which took his pole-sitting Mustang GT4 out of the mix. The JDRF-sponsored machine was a late-entry into the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race and it topped the Grand Sport class in qualifying thanks to a searing 1:55.754 lap.

“I just started getting after it, waiting for my Continental Tires to come in,” Dean said after qualifying. “I found that sweet spot on the third or fourth lap. I had a good lap going and I just chucked it into the Bus Stop. I wasn’t sure I was going to come out the other side. I just carried a ton of speed, drafted up behind another car and got a really good pull from them and just popped out past and put down the time.”

While the Kohr GT4 fell out due to hardware problems, the Multimatic Motorsports machine driven by Scott Maxwell and Jade Buford was in the running for a win until about 16 minutes left in the race, but a penalty in the pits—for spinning the tires while it was on jacks—made them settle for a fifth-place finish.

“The car made it through the race. It ran flawlessly,” Jade said. “There was some unneeded drama. Some of it due to on-track incidents that were kind of hard to avoid and others were things we couldn’t avoid, like a cut tire. All in all, the Mustang ran flawlessly. This car is going to win races. It has been a really great weekend.”

“The car was fantastic,” Scott added. “Even with the front-end damage, it was pretty strong. It was right on pace with the leaders, but I knew what their strengths were and I knew what our strengths were, and I thought I had it covered. It’s going to have a great future. It’s a great car and I think we’ll sell a lot of them and see them around the world, which is great. A Mustang is a Mustang, but this is really great. I’ve driven Mustangs for over 20 years now, and this is the best one yet.”

The Mustang GT4s will return to competition at Sebring International Raceway on March 15-18 in the Sebring 150. You can learn more about that race here, but there may be an additional GT4 racing there.

“There will be a second IMSA car for Sebring, and there is the potential for a third one to be ready then too,” Dean told SportsCar365. “We’ve got two other drivers that we’re planning on bringing into the second car.”