SECOND DOUBLE-PODIUM IN A ROW FOR FORD GT AS FORD CHIP GANASSI RACING FINISHES P1-2 AT SAHLEN'S SIX HOURS OF THE GLEN

◾Ford Chip Ganassi Racing went p1-2 at the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen after finishing the Le Mans 24 p1, p3

◾Richard Westbrook drove the eventual winner to a track-record crushing pole, the first IMSA pole for Ford GT, on Saturday

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., July 3, 2016 – The Ford GT is on a winning streak. Ford Chip Ganassi Racing earned its second double-podium in a row as the No. 67 Ford GT duo of Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe cruised to victory lane for the second time together, this time at the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, while teammates Joey Hand and Dirk Müller backed up their win at the Le Mans 24 Hours with a runner-up finish.

Westbrook, who handled all driving duties Friday and Saturday while Briscoe went home for the surprise birth of daughter Blake James, put the No. 67 on pole with a track-record crushing 1:41.301, then, incredibly, set that bar even higher on race day.

Westbrook and Briscoe earned Ford GT's first win at Laguna Seca. Then they stood on the podium at p3 while teammates Hand, Müller and Sébastien Bourdais won on the 50th anniversary of Ford's fabled 1-2-3 finish at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June. Now they're back on the podium after Westbrook earned the team's first IMSA pole in GTLM.

'It's really good to be back here at Watkins Glen,' Briscoe said. 'Obviously it was a really busy weekend of driving on the freeways back and forth to Connecticut from Watkins Glen, but it's been exciting and it's been fun. It was really strange not being here at the track. I was on the phone a lot with Richard and our engineer and Richard was on fire. He led two practice sessions and got the pole. So I'm coming in last night, and I was kind of nervous. I thought 'I don't want to step in here and let the team down.' I'm glad we got the win and it's all worked out well. I'll be hitting the road as soon as I leave the track to go back to the hospital and see my girls. Thanks to the team and for Richard for sticking it out for me while I was gone. It's been awesome being in the car today. It handled really well. It's nice to lead some laps and get the win.'

The move of the race for the No. 66 happened in the closing moments, when Hand passed the BMW the team had been dueling with around the outside for p2.

'Clearly we have a little roll going here,' Hand said. '(Briscoe and Westbrook) won at Laguna Seca, we both had fast cars there, then we went to the Le Mans 24 Hours and had a great run there and ended up first and third between these two cars. This Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team, we're hitting our stride. We got along really well from the beginning, but I think with the whole team, everyone is just flowing really good and we're getting great support from our partners like Michelin and Castrol and IHG Rewards Club. There's just a lot of good mojo. This is when it's great to drive for a race team like this. They figure things out. We struggled on the No. 66 car. We thought we broke something. We struggled during qualifying. Even during the race, something didn't feel right. There was so much rubber on the race track. It took a bunch of rubber to make the car feel normal, but after that…we had one bad pit stop that put us back to eighth and it was a dog fight to get back from that. The car was good. I was able to get through. We had some great racing. This IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship right now, in GTLM, is pretty awesome. We have some great cars. It's cool for the fans.'

'I love every single second in the car,' Müller said. 'The car was awesome. We had a little issue with the car yesterday and we found it, so thanks to the team. Ford Chip Ganassi did a great job with the car. It was really, really fast.'

About Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is a global automotive and mobility company based in Dearborn, Michigan. With about 201,000 employees and 67 plants worldwide, the company's core business includes designing, manufacturing, marketing, financing and servicing a full line of Ford cars, trucks, SUVs and electrified vehicles, as well as Lincoln luxury vehicles. At the same time, Ford is aggressively pursuing emerging opportunities through Ford Smart Mobility, the company's plan to be a leader in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience, and data and analytics. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford and its products worldwide or Ford Motor Credit Company, visit www.corporate.ford.com.

About Chip Ganassi Racing Teams

Chip Ganassi has been a fixture in the auto racing industry for over 25 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, two factory Ford GT's in the FIA World Endurance Championship and two Supercars in Red Bull Global Rallycross. Overall his teams have 18 championships and more than 175 victories, including four Indianapolis 500s, a Daytona 500, a Brickyard 400, six Rolex 24 At Daytonas, the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ganassi boasts state-of-the-art race shop facilities in Indianapolis and Concord, N.C., with a corporate office in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Photo credit: Ford
posted on conceptcarz.com

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