GREATWORTH, U.K., Sept. 11, 2017 – Ford’s World Endurance Championship battle heads to the U.S. this weekend, to the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. The Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team put up a strong fight at the previous round in Mexico, despite the city circuit not playing to the strengths of the Ford GT, which favours long corners and straights on which to “stretch its legs”.
The Circuit of the Americas is the only circuit on the WEC calendar to run in an anti-clockwise direction. The circuit’s fast, flowing corners will suit the Ford GTs so the team will be pushing to take as many points as possible from this event.
Championship leaders, Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell share the #67 Ford GT and they will be pushing hard to build on their lead at the top of the table. They finished fourth at COTA last year.
“COTA is a track that I love,” Priaulx said. “We were in with a chance of a podium last year and now we have a lot more experience behind us, which will help us with things like tyre management. I’m feeling very positive at the moment as we are heading into a run of tracks that are good for us: COTA, Fuji and Shanghai. Let’s hope we can start off a strong run at COTA.”
The biggest challenge facing the drivers at COTA is expected to be the heat. Last year the race began in the late afternoon and the heat was almost overwhelming. Unfortunately for Stefan Mücke (GER), he had an air-conditioning fault in the first hour, which required him to pit for immediate repairs. Mücke’s team mate Olivier Pla (FRA) suffered a different type of problem when he was hit by prototype race cars on two occasions.
“I’m going to COTA feeling optimistic,” Mücke said. “I really like the circuit and I think it will suit us this year. Tyre selection is the key thing at COTA, depending on the track temperatures so we will have to see how extreme the heat is this time. It’s a long track with lots of fast corners and that is where the Ford GT is very strong. I think we can get a good result there.”
The 6 Hours of COTA will get underway this Saturday, Sept. 16, at 12:00 midday local time (19:00 CET).
About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is a global company based in Dearborn, Michigan. The company designs, manufactures, markets and services a full line of Ford cars, trucks, SUVs, electrified vehicles and Lincoln luxury vehicles, provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company and is pursuing leadership positions in electrification, autonomous vehicles and mobility solutions. Ford employs approximately 203,000 people worldwide. For more information regarding Ford, its products and Ford Motor Credit Company, please 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 52,000 employees at its wholly owned facilities and approximately 66,000 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 eight 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 30 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 and two factory Ford GT’s in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Overall his teams have 18 championships and over 190 victories, including four Indianapolis 500s, a Daytona 500, a Brickyard 400, a Le Mans 24 Hours, seven 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@fordchipganassiracing.com
Lachelle Laney
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing (IMSA WTSCC)
+1 630 780 7006
llaney@campbellmarketing.com
Craig Morelli
Chip Ganassi Racing
+1 317 766 2202
cmorelli@ganassi.com
