MOORESVILLE, NC, March 12, 2018 – Ford Performance looks to make it two consecutive wins for the Ford GT this weekend. At this year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona, it was their time to shine for the No. 67 Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook and Indy car driver Scott Dixon earning the top spot on the podium, while No. 66 teammates Joey Hand, Dirk Müller and Indy car driver Sébastien Bourdais clinched P2. Ford Chip Ganassi Racing will try to keep the momentum going at the 12 Hours of Sebring on Saturday.
The Ford GTs used smart pit and tire strategy, not to mention heads-up driving, to get the lead early on in the 24 Hour race and kept it. Will this be the same strategy for the 12-hour race this weekend?
“We’re only one race into the season, so there’s a lot of work ahead of us,” commented Briscoe. “The competition is going to be tough. I think Sebring as always is going to be a true test. It’s one of the toughest tracks on the circuit for a lot of reasons. The racing is hard; it’s a long race. I hope we’ll be prepared enough to compete well, but I have no expectations it’s going to be easy.”
The win in Daytona was the second in a row for the team at the Rolex 24 and the 200th overall for team owner Chip Ganassi. Ford has only one historic race left to win with the new Ford GT – the 12 Hours of Sebring – and that has made the team hungry.
“We’re fortunate in that we have the smartest people in the business at Ford Chip Ganassi Racing,” said Mark Rushbrook, Global Director of Ford Performance Motorsports. “They make smart decisions and it’s proven again and again on the track.”
At last year’s race in Sebring, Ford nearly finished p2-3 at Sebring after a penalty sidelined one of the leaders, until a last-lap crash put the No. 67 out of podium position. The No. 66 finished second, ending its attempt to win class titles in the Le Mans 24, Rolex 24 At Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring in nine months.
“We really just put everything on the table,” Hand said. “If you finish second, the one thing you want to make sure of is that you did everything you could to win the race. We’ve tested at Sebring a few times since then and added to the data we have from that track, we’re confident we can give it another shot this year.”
* Courtesy Ford Performance