The Ford GT makes its return to endurance racing at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona this weekend. The field will be adjusted as rain scattered qualifying times, but Ford will be fielding two GTs and three Ford Riley prototypes.
FORD GT STARTING POSITIONS (Overall/Class)
P15/9 66 Ford GT (*Joey Hand, Dirk Müller, Sébastien Bourdais) – 2:06.758
P25/10 67 Ford GT (*Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook, Stefan Mücke) – 2:08.440
* Driver qualified.
No. 66 Ford GT (Joey Hand, Dirk Müller, Sébastien Bourdais)
JOEY HAND: “The conditions were treacherous. I’m actually surprised we were qualifying in those conditions. You couldn’t even get through the Bus Stop. The Bus Stop is usually third or fourth gear, and this was first gear. There’s a lot of places that were just not good and I thought we could’ve wrote off some cars. A lot of guys took it easy. Our main goal with this car is not really to throw down the ultimate lap in this first race, it’s to finish 24 hours. We hate to get in a situation and get the car in the fence and have the guys have to work all night to just get a pieced-together car to go race 24 hours, so our main thing when we left pit lane was to get it back in one piece and that’s what we did. We went out a little late. We then caught a red flag at the beginning, so we didn’t get our laps in the way we should have or could have. The good thing is, I don’t think the car is bad in the rain. I think it’s actually pretty good. We just had to really tip-toe in these conditions and make sure we had a race car come the start of the Rolex 24.”
No. 67 Ford GT (Richard Westbrook, Ryan Briscoe, Stefan Mücke)
RYAN BRISCOE: “We only did one timed lap, so it was really a challenge. There was a lot of standing water and I was just trying to keep it on the track, to be honest. We got our timed lap and the car’s in one piece, so we’re ready to go racing and that’s the important thing.”
Prototype
FORD EcoBoost RILEY STARTING POSITIONS (Overall/Class)
P26/5 01 Claritin/Target Ford Riley (*Alex Wurz, Lance Stroll, Brendon Hartley, Andy Priaulx) – 2:08.639
P32/7 02 Target/Claritin Ford Riley (*Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray) – 2:10.094
* Driver qualified.
No. 02 Target/Claritin Ford EcoBoost Riley (Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray)
DIXON: “We changed our strategy quite a bit. When the track was on its best early on, we couldn’t get the front to turn, then with a couple of minutes to go we got that wind, and we couldn’t really do anything. Then when I came into pit road, I think I was just in third gear slowing down, and there was a massive puddle and it went. Then I got stuck in the grass. I was John Deere-ing it a little.”
No. 01 Claritin/Target Ford EcoBoost Riley (Alex Wurz, Brendon Hartley, Lance Stroll, Andy Priaulx)
ALEX WURZ: “I came to the Sunshine State expecting sunshine, but it rained for qualifying, which I usually really like. I had zero timed laps before qualifying. I didn’t know where to break in Turn 1, things like this. So, I started qualifying and realized there was low grip and tried to get comfortable. In the end, I didn’t think I did too bad for a rookie. Main thing is, the car is in one piece, so the guys can get on with doing their job now.”
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