Ford GT Wins Back-To-Back Rolex 24 Races

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It was a 1-2 finish for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing at the 56th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Teammates Ryan Briscoe*, Richard Westbrook and Scott Dixon drove the No. 67 across the finish line, recording back-to-back wins for the Ford GT and delivering the 200th win to team owner Chip Ganassi. The No. 66 sister-car with drivers Joey Hand*, Dirk Müller and Sébastien Bourdais (2017 Rolex 24 At Daytona winners) secured a second place podium finish in this year’s season opener.

“Both teams ran an exceptional race,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “Congratulations to Chip and Ford Performance, they put together a great team and race strategy for the weekend. It’s an honor to partner and work with Ford Performance on the Ford EcoBoost V6 program and power Chip’s 200th win. To win an endurance race of this length two years in a row takes an extraordinary team effort and I’m so proud of the entire Ford team.”

This win marked Chip Ganassi’s historic 200th win; 103 Indy Car, 56 Sportscar, 39 Stock Car and 2 Rally Car wins, exemplifying his legendary career in motorsports.

“Congratulations Chip,” from all of us at Roush Yates Engines. “It’s obviously a great win and a great weekend,” Ganassi said. “In terms of the win, it was one of the most nerve-wracking races. You know, when you come out of the blocks like that and leading it after about three or four hours or something. After a certain amount of hours go around the clock a little bit, it’s your race to lose. It’s one thing not to win a race, it’s another to lose it. It was our race to lose and those are one of the worst races from my point of view, because everything is out of my control. My hats off to the team, the drivers, the engineers, the mechanics, the people that build the engines, and the people who built the cars. They’re the ones that deserve to be sitting up here along with the drivers and myself.”

The direct injection, 3.6L, twin-turbo Ford EcoBoost V6 race engines performed superbly during the 24-hour endurance race, completing a record 2,787.48 miles (783 laps x 3.56-mile circuit) each. The No. 67 and No. 66 each completed 783 race laps, surpassing the previous 719 lap (3.84-mile circuit, 2,760.96 miles) record for the race.

All Ford entries who competed during the IMSA weekend bore a special decal for Ford racing legend Dan Gurney, who died Jan. 14, 2018. The serial number on the winning Ford EcoBoost engine was “GT40.”

RYE PR

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