FORD S GLOBAL GT ASSAULT CHASING CHAMPIONSHIPS IN IMSA AND THE FIA WEC CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS

Transcription

1 FORD S GLOBAL GT ASSAULT CHASING CHAMPIONSHIPS IN IMSA AND THE FIA WEC CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS

2 2 THE BIG STORY The biggest story in 2016 motorsports kickedoff in June 2015 when Ford unveiled the new GTE Pro class Ford GT and announced its plan to return to Le Mans in Ford Performance s incredibly ambitious, seemingly outrageous, virtually impossible goal was to win Le Mans this year! Ones and Zeroes into Heroes In addition to turning the design, data, and engineering of the race cars and Ford GT production cars in reality, there was the harsh matter of racing them against longestablished competitors in one of the toughest classes in international motorsports. And Ford doubled the challenge, entering both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship in Ironically, in selecting the ultra successful Chip Ganassi Racing team, Ford was choosing a team that had never entered Le Mans! With four full season cars competing in two different series the logistics alone were daunting. Based in Concord, NC, for the WeatherTech Championship entries, the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team would be led by Mike Hull and Mike O Gara. The European arm of Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, based in Greatworth, UK, was led by Multimatic s George Howard-Chappell. T Finding the Talent The Ford CGR team needed at least eight drivers for the regular seasons and a full dozen for Le Mans, with Le Mans experience a major consideration. CGR paired Ryan Briscoe with former Corvette driver Richard Westbrook for the WeatherTech Championship, adding IndyCar champ Scott Dixon for the long races and Le Mans. The IMSA sister car put American favorite Joey Hand with former BMW driver teammate Dirk Müller. They would be joined by Le Mans native and IndyCar star Sebastien Bourdais. The WEC team features French sports car ace Olivier Pla and ex-aston Martin racer Stefan Mücke in one car. The sister WEC Ford GT is raced by Marino Franchitti, 3-time touring car World Champion Andy Priaulx and rising British star Harry Tincknell. For crews, CGR and its Euro based operation blended a mix of sportscar, IndyCar and NASCAR veterans with a mix of European based veterans of sports car and Formula One racing and rising talents. Every hire, simulation, test, and early season race lap was made with the goal of winning Le Mans.

3 TAKING ON HE WORLD An Ominous Start The 2016 racing season kicked off with the Rolex 24 At Daytona and it didn t take long to recognize the uphill climb Ford faced. Just 20 minutes into the race, Briscoe pitted with a gear change issue, fulfilling Ford exec Raj Nair s prediction that during the 24 hours team engineers would report a problem that hadn t happened before. Success! With Briscoe and Westbrook having delivered the appetizer with a victory at Monterey, Ford s return to Le Mans generated enormous interest and enthusiasm. Ford Performance and the CGR teams did not disappoint. Müller won the pole and in the race it was Hand, Müller and hometown favorite Bourdais celebrating atop the podium with Ford executive chairman Bill Ford. Briscoe, Westbrook and Dixon took third, flanking the Risi Competizione Ferrari, making it an IMSA WeatherTech podium sweep. Finishing fourth at Le Mans, Pla and Mücke were the top placed WEC entry and claimed the big bonus points toward the FIA WEC Championship. Resetting the targets Despite an exhausting stretch from last fall all the way through Christmas and into June, the Ford CGR team returned from Le Mans inspired. Their confidence and energy soared. Led by Westbrook and Briscoe, the Ford GTs delivered a big 1-2 finish at Watkins Glen and Westbrook and Briscoe immediately scored yet again in Canada. With three consecutive wins, the WeatherTech Championship points were suddenly mounting and the Corvette of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner was getting bigger in their WeatherTech Championship windshield as the season progressed. Now, heading into the penultimate round of the WeatherTech Championship here at COTA, the No. 67 Ford CGR team and Briscoe/Westbrook trails the No. 4 Corvette Racing, Gavin and Milner by just seven points. Ready for COTA The coordination and exchange of information never stops, said Howard-Chappell. We were racing in Mexico and the IMSA team were testing at COTA at the same time. Before the guys had even packed up in Austin, we had downloaded all the data, all the in-car video, everything, It is a huge advantage to have two teams racing and testing and everything is fed back to both sides. And race fans will enjoy seeing all four Ford GTs, albeit in separate races. READ MORE AT: 3

4 4 PROTOTYPE LINE-UP Fans of Prototype sports cars will have plenty of Prototype entries to choose from here at the Lone Star Le Mans. Between the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship there will be four different styles of Prototypes competing at The Circuit of The Americas this weekend. Three of the four Prototype combinations compete in the WeatherTech Championship, where the top Prototype class matches the Chevrolet powered Corvette Daytona Prototypes from Action Express, Wayne Taylor Racing and VisitFlorida Racing against the LMP2 styled Mazda, Michael Shank Racing Ligier Honda and radical DeltaWing entries. With just two races remaining in the 2016 WeatherTech Championship, Action Express co-drivers Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa have a one-point lead over teammates Dane Cameron and Eric Curran. Wayne Taylor Racing s Ricky and Jordan Taylor are just eleven points out as the Daytona Prototype era draws to a close here and at Road Atlanta. Looking for their first win after leading recent events, the MAZDA Motorsports pairing of Jonathan Bomarito and Tristan Nunez may be the ones to break the recent DP stranglehold. Teams in the top class in the WeatherTech Championship can use an all-pro driver line-up, while the similar WEC LMP2 class uses a Pro-Am driver combination. Christm Texa for Prototyp Prototype Challenge One of the most cost-efficient formulas in motorsports, the WeatherTech Championship Prototype Challenge class features a singlespecification package of identical, open-cockpit, Chevrolet powered Prototypes. With identical cars, the Pro-Am format puts a premium on car set-ups, race strategies and the performance of the lower rated driver to match up with his or her peers. Leading the WeatherTech Championship is the Starworks Motorsport pair of Alex Popow and Renger van der Zande who hold a seven point lead over PR1/Mathiasen s Tom Kimber- Smith and Robert Alon. Misha Goikhberg and Stephen Simpson of JDC-Miller are third. CORE autosport s PC stalwarts Jonathan Bennett and Colin Braun stand only a distant fourth despite victories at Sebring and Canada, leaving them shooting for race wins rather than worrying about points in the final rounds.

5 FIA WEC LMP1 Class The FIA WEC has a different approach to its top Prototype class. Centered on the Le Mans 24 Hours race, the WEC series features some of the most exotic cars in motorsports today. Pairs of hybrid Audi, Toyota and Porsche factory team entries do battle in six-hour races at Silverstone, Spa, Nurburgring, Mexico, COTA, Fuji, Shanghai and Bahrain. The WEC LMP1 hybrids combine an internal combustion engine with powerful hybrid and energy recovery systems to generate nearly 1,000 horsepower. Series organizers have steadily ratcheted down fuel allocations each year to encourage development of alternative powertrains. As a result, each manufacturer has chosen a distinct path. as in s e Fans Toyota 2.4 liter direct injection twinturbo V6 with an 8MJ hybrid system. PORSCHE 2.0 liter turbocharged engine with a lithiumion battery and engine generator unit on the front axle. AUDI 4.0 liter turbo diesel V6 and a lithiumion system generating 6MJ. Fresh from the victory at Mexico earlier this month, Porsche s Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, the defending WEC series champions, arrive at COTA desperately trying to regain ground in the WEC Driver Championship and narrow the gap to their Le Mans winning teammates, Neal Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb. Toyota, which saw its victory hopes cruelly evaporate in the final minutes at Le Mans, has Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Stephane Sarrazin currently second in the championship. They are followed by Audi s Loic Duval, Lucas Di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis in third and Audi s Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler stand fourth. FIA WEC-LMP2 The distinctive green and black of Scott Sharp s Extreme Speed Motorsports team is familiar to WeatherTech Championship and WEC fans alike as the cars are currently interchangeable. The ESM team were the overall winners of the first two races of the 2016 WeatherTech Championship; the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with Sharp, Johnannes van Overbeek, Ed Brown and Pipo Derani aboard a Honda powered LMP2. The team, now Nissan powered, arrives at COTA fresh from a podium finish for Ryan Dalziel, Derani and Chris Cumming in the LMP2 class at the recent WEC 6 Hours of Mexico race. With a Pro-Am driver format, the field is always tight and the cars have subtle design differences to reflect their constructor. With four Prototype classes in a powerful racing doubleheader, Prototype fans have the best of both worlds here at the COTA. 5

6 FASTFACTS Watch us now on FOX Don t miss the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as the series competes at the Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of The Americas. HOME GAME Friday, September 16 (All times EDT) Qualifying 4:45 p.m. 6:15 p.m. IMSA.com (Live) (IMSA App) Saturday, September 17 12:30 pm FOX Sports 2 IMSA.tv and the IMSA mobile app will feature live streaming coverage of the WeatherTech Championship qualifying and the race outside of the USA Schedule Jan : March 18: April 8: May 6: June 3: July 2: July 9: July 22: Aug. 6: Aug. 27: Sept. 24: Oct. 7: Daytona International Speedway All classes Sebring International Raceway All classes Long Beach Street Circuit P/GTLM/GTD Circuit of The Americas All classes The Raceway at Belle Isle Park P/PC/GTD Watkins Glen International All classes Canadian Tire Motorsport Park All classes Lime Rock Park GTLM/GTD Road America All classes VIRginia International Raceway GTLM/GTD Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca P/GTLM/GTD Road Atlanta All classes The Lone Star Le Mans weekend is the rare home game for the Houston based Risi Competizione Ferrari team, Viper Exchange GTD driver-team owner Ben Keating of Tomball, Lone Star Racing Viper s Dan Knox of Cresson and CORE autosport s Colin Braun. IN THE CLUB Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers combined to deliver the first WeatherTech Championship victory for the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 at VIR. That makes five different manufacturers with 2016 victories in the GTD class. Congratulations also to Robert Alon who scored his first Prototype Challenge class win with codriver Tom Kimber-Smith at Road America aboard the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports NEW Date The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will have a new plan for COTA under the 2017 schedule recently released by the series. COTA will move to the Spring with the race on May 7. SHIFTING GEARS With overall and Prototype wins at COTA in 2014 and 2015, Chip Ganassi Racing knows its way around the circuit. Now, switching from Prototypes to the sensational new Ford GTs in the WeatherTech Championship GTLM class, the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team aims to add a win at COTA to its growing Ford GT resume that already includes GT top class wins in Monterey, Watkins Glen, Canada and Le Mans. 6

7 We keep pushing each other. We are elevating each other s game. It s rewarding to get wins in this class, even podiums are pretty special. Tommy Milner, Corvette Racing driver, WeatherTech Championship GTLM co-leader DESIGN FOR THE WIN A distinguished group of top international automotive designers and experts will convene at COTA to select the winning designs for the 2017 Challenge Design, Le Mans 2030: Design for the Win competition held in cooperation with the Automobile Club de l Ouest. The Jury will select the winners from more than 1,600 registrations representing 80 countries. THEY RE BACK The all GT format for the GT Challenge at VIR was just what Corvette Racing s Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia needed to end a rare winless streak. After four GTLM class wins in 2014 and another pair in the first two rounds of the 2015 WeatherTech Championship, the duo had seen their winless streak reach 18 races including Le Mans. Oh man, it s about time! said Magnussen on ending their 17 month drought. TEXAS 3-STEP With two wins in the last six races, Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen are moving up the WeatherTech Championship standings heading to COTA. Their GTD class Dodge Viper GT3-R has taken the last two GTD class wins here and they will seek a Texas three-peat. THURSDAY, SEPT 15, :00 am - 8:20 am Qualifying - Porsche GT3 Cup 8:35 am - 9:05 am Qualifying - Lamborghini Trofeo 9:20 am - 10:05 am Practice #2 - CTSCC 10:25 am - 11:25 am Practice #1 - WeatherTech (All Classes) 12:30 pm - 1:15 pm Race #1 - Porsche GT3 Cup 1:35 pm - 1:50 pm Qualifying - CTSCC ST 2:05 pm - 2:20 pm Qualifying - CTSCC GS 2:45 pm - 4:15 pm Free Practice #1 - FIA WEC 4:35 pm - 5:35 pm Practice #2 - WeatherTech (All Classes) 5:55 pm - 6:45 pm Race #1 - Lamborghini Trofeo 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm Free Practice #2 - FIA WEC FRIDAY, SEPT 16, :00 am - 8:50 am Race #2 - Lamborghini Trofeo 9:10 am -10:10 am Practice #3 - WeatherTech (All Classes) 10:30 am - 11:30 am Free Practice #3 - FIA WEC 12:40 pm - 3:10 pm Race - CTSCC 150 3:45 pm - 4:00 pm Qualifying - WeatherTech (GTD) 4:10 pm - 4:25 pm Qualifying - WeatherTech (GTLM) 4:35 pm - 4:50 pm Qualifying - WeatherTech (PC) 5:00 pm - 5:15 pm Qualifying - WeatherTech (P) 5:45 pm - 6:05 pm Qualifying - FIA WEC (LMGTE PRO / LMGTE) 6:15 pm - 6:35 pm Qualifying - FIA WEC (LMP1 / LMP2) 7:15 pm - 8:00 pm Race #2 - Porsche GT3 Cup SUNDAY, SEPT 17, :00 am - 8:20 am Warm Up - WeatherTech (All Classes) 9:15 am -10:00 am WeatherTech Driver Autograph Session 11:35 am - 2:15 pm Race - Lone Star Le Mans for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - 2 Hours and 40 Minutes 5:00 pm - 11:00 pm Race - FIA WEC - 6 Hours 7

8 FAN FAVORITES 1 Webber/Bernhard/Hartley Porsche Team Porsche 919 Hybrid LM P1 5 Buemi/Davidson/Nakajima Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 Hybrid LM P1 7 Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 LM P1 31 Derani/Dalziel/Cumming Extreme Speed Motorsports LIgier J3 P2 LM P2 Bruni/Calado AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE LMGTE Pro Franchitti/Priaulx/Tincknell Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford GT LMGTE Pro 77 Lietz/Christensen Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE Pro 3 Magnussen/Garcia Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R 25 Auberlen/Werner BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM 62 Fisichella/Vilander Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE 66 Hand/Mueller Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT 912 Bamber/Makowiecki Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR North America, Inc One Parkway South, Greenville, SC TEL: Copyright 2016 North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved Printed in USA, September 14, 2016 Volume 10, Issue 10 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the prior permission of the publisher. 8 Printed on recycled paper 10% Total Recovered Fiber All Post-Consumed Fiber