COLOGNE, Germany, March 18, 2014 – Ford won the famous 12 Hours of Sebring sports car race in the United States for the first time since 1969 on Saturday when its 3.5-litre twin turbocharged EcoBoost engine triumphed in the race’s closest-ever finish.
Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and Marino Franchitti won by just 4.682sec in a Ford EcoBoost Riley after 291 laps of racing, marking a debut success for the Chip Ganassi Racing squad on its first visit to the Florida classic.
The second round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship was hugely dramatic. There were 30 lead changes and the outcome was in doubt until the final lap.
After steadily climbing the order, Franchitti took the wheel for the final stint in fifth place. After pitting for fuel and new tyres, he rejoined in eighth with 51 minutes remaining.
However, the 11th safety car period of an accident-plagued race meant his rivals had to wait for the pits to re-open before making their final stops. Once they did, Franchitti moved to the front and held off Ryan Dalziel in the final 23-minute sprint to the line, recording the car’s fastest lap of the race with just six tours remaining.
The team’s second Ford EcoBoost Riley of Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan and Sage Karam finished sixth.
Ford Racing’s Jamie Allison celebrated victory and said: “What really makes it so sweet is that this is a win made possible by a production-based Ford EcoBoost. Literally, it comes out of our production vehicle.
“It makes it so, so sweet because it validates what we do at Ford, that the technology we have in our cars is good enough to power an all-out win here at the 12 Hours of Sebring,” he added.
Joining the Ford Racing team in victory lane was Raj Nair, Group Vice President, Ford Global Product Development.
“It was a great day,” Nair said. “The first win overall for Ford since 1969 and at the same time, the first with our partners in Ganassi here at Sebring, and in only the second race on the new engine. It just doesn’t get any better than this.”
The direct-injection V6 power unit debuted at the Daytona 24 Hours race in January and will tackle all 12 rounds of the new-for-2014 championship.
The victory marked Ford’s fourth success at Sebring, which along with the 24 hour races at Le Mans and Daytona comprises the unofficial Triple Crown of endurance sports car racing.
Ford won the race in 1966 and 1967 with the famous GT40, the latter race generating Sebring’s greatest margin of victory – 12 laps. The car completed a hat-trick with victory in 1969.
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 181,000 employees and 65 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information about Ford and its products worldwide 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 47,000 employees at its wholly owned facilities and approximately
67,000 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 22 manufacturing
facilities (13 wholly owned or consolidated joint venture facilities and nine 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.
