NÜRBURGRING, Germany, July 23, 2016 – The #66 Ford GT will start Round 4 of the FIA World Endurance Championship from the front row of the grid after Stefan Mücke and Olivier Pla took a storming second place in today’s thrilling qualifying session at the Nürburgring in Germany.
Qualifying took place in rapidly changing weather conditions. Both of the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GTs started the session on wet weather tyres and both picked the right moment to make the switch to slick tyres.
“That was an interesting and challenging qualifying session,” commented WEC Team Principal, George Howard-Chappell. “We are very pleased with second place on the grid. We’re slightly disappointed we didn’t capitalise on it as we feel we could have taken the whole front row but I think a few teams will be saying that today! It’s good to have the championship leading car in P2 and we’re looking forward to a good race.”
German racer, Stefan Mücke put in a strong banker lap before handing over to Pla as the times of the two qualifying drivers are averaged out to form their final lap time. The German then jumped back in for another attempt at pole position but was pipped to the post by just two-tenths of a second.
“We knew the track was going to dry quickly so we had a good strategy for that,” Mücke explained. “I did a banker on wets then we took a gamble to send Olivier (Pla) out on slicks. He put in a great lap straight away so we decided that I would get back in to get our average time down. It’s a great position to be in and we can have a strong race from here.”
Harry Tincknell and Andy Priaulx put in some blistering lap times today but after one of Tincknell’s fastest laps was deleted due to a track limits infringement they had a battle on their hands to get back up the order.
“We managed to take provisional pole but the track was drying so quickly at the end,” said Tincknell. “In those conditions you don’t want to be first across the line for that last flyer, which is what happened to us and we dropped to fifth. I had my first lap deleted as I hit a damp spot and ran wide at turn four so we didn’t have time for Andy (Priaulx) to get back in for another run. That’s the way it goes sometimes. The good news is that we made some changes to the car overnight and that has got is back in the performance window so I’m looking forward to a good race tomorrow.”
The 6 Hours of Nürburgring race starts tomorrow at 13:00 CET.
About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is a global automotive and mobility company based in Dearborn, Mich. With about 201,000 employees and 67 plants worldwide, the company’s core business includes designing, manufacturing, marketing financing and servicing a full line of Ford cars, trucks, SUVs and electrified vehicles, as well as Lincoln luxury vehicles. At the same time, Ford is aggressively pursuing emerging opportunities through Ford Smart Mobility, the company’s plan to be a leader in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience and data and analytics. For more information regarding Ford, its products worldwide or Ford Motor Credit Company, visit www.corporate.ford.com.
Ford of Europe is responsible for producing, selling and servicing Ford brand vehicles in 50 individual markets and employs approximately 53,000 employees at its wholly owned facilities and approximately 68,000 people when joint ventures and unconsolidated businesses are included. In addition to Ford Motor Credit Company, Ford Europe operations include Ford Customer Service Division and 24 manufacturing facilities (16 wholly owned or consolidated joint venture facilities and 8 unconsolidated joint venture facilities). The first Ford cars were shipped to Europe in 1903 – the same year Ford Motor Company was founded. European production started in 1911.
About Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
Chip Ganassi has been a fixture in the auto racing industry for over 25 years and is considered one of the most successful as well as innovative owners the sport has anywhere in the world. Today his teams include four cars in the Verizon IndyCar Series, two cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, two cars in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, two factory Ford GT’s in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, two factory Ford GT’s in the FIA World Endurance Championship and two Supercars in Red Bull Global Rallycross. Overall his teams have 18 championships and over 170 victories, including four Indianapolis 500s, a Daytona 500, a Brickyard 400, a Le Mans 24 Hours, six Rolex 24 At Daytonas and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Ganassi boasts state-of-the-art race shop facilities in Indianapolis and Concord, N.C., with a corporate office in Pittsburgh, Penn. For more information log onto: www.chipganassiracing.com
Lindsay Morle
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing (FIA WEC)
+44 7971 481078
lindsay@morle.com
Lachelle Seymour
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing (IMSA WTSCC)
+1 630 780 7006
lseymour@campbellmarketing.com
Kelby Krauss
Chip Ganassi Racing
+1 317 945 3019
