Ford Motor : Performance IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Race Notes and Quotes

Michelin GT Challenge at VIR
Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016
Race

FORD GT FINAL RACE RESULTS
P2 66 Ford GT (*Dirk Müller/Joey Hand)
P4 67 Ford GT (*Ryan Briscoe/Richard Westbrook)
*Last driver in car

FORD GT STARTING POSITIONS
P3 66 Ford GT (*Joey Hand/Dirk Müller)
P21 67 Ford GT (*Richard Westbrook/Ryan Briscoe)
*Driver qualified

NOTE: The No. 67 Ford GT team chose to switch tires after qualifying, which moved them to the back of the pack for the start of the race. Ultimately, it was the team's sister car, the No. 66 Ford GT, and drivers Joey Hand and Dirk Müller who waged an epic battle against Corvette to earn their second IMSA podium of the year and third overall, including the win at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Hand put them in contention right away, passing for p2 right after the green flag.

No. 66 Ford GT
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing

DIRK MÜLLER: 'That was a fun day. The team did once again a tremendous job in the pit. We had to really rush it at my driver change, but it all went well. Joey drove a heck of a stint at the beginning of the race. He gave us a really, really good start. He passed the Corvette (for p2) and basically just took off with him. Then, it was about 1 hour, 50 minutes of me with the Corvette. It was basically one qualifying lap after another. Basically, the only decider was traffic. I got caught in traffic and soon the gap was just too big. I increased the pressure at the end. My Ford GT was running like a rocket ship today. I really loved it. The Michelin tires were holding on. It was a 100-percent run today.'

JOEY HAND: 'This was one of those races where we thought we had a pretty good race car. The 'Vettes were obviously quick all weekend long, but we had a good car, too. Going into the start of the race, I knew the important thing for me was going to be to get at least one car and come out of it in second, then go race the No. 3 car, which we thought was the faster car. It worked out. It got a little bumpin' and bangin' out there and I got a little crossed up with the traffic behind me but made it out alive and went racing. It was tough to run behind the No. 3 with the aero push behind him, so I just kind of hung out and made the fuel mileage we needed to make and thought we were in a good position to hand it to Dirk. We're just proud of these gals and guys. There's been a lot of weekends we've had good cars, but had bad luck. I think we're starting to turn around. If we keep bringing good race cars and we keep going around the track, we'll get good results.'