Ford GTs Go 1-2 For First Time As Westbrook, Briscoe Lead Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Sweep In Sahlen’s

The Ford Chip Ganassi Racing GT Le Mans (GTLM) program is quickly running out of ‘firsts’ but it accomplished another one in Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at the 3.4-mile Watkins Glen International circuit.

It was the first 1-2 finish for the team’s new-for-2016 GTLM program, as Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe co-drove their No. 67 Ford GT to victory ahead of teammates Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller in the 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning No. 66 entry.

Westbrook qualified on the class pole position Saturday while co-driver Briscoe was making his way back to Watkins Glen from Connecticut, where his wife, Nicole, gave birth to their second child, a daughter, on Friday. By the end of the first lap Sunday morning, however, it was John Edwards in the No. 100 IHG Rewards Club BMW M6 GTLM that held the lead with Westbrook running in second.

The Ford/BMW battle lasted throughout the six hours, while the No. 68 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GTE also took a turn at the head of the field. In the end, Westbrook and Briscoe combined to lead five different times. Briscoe put the No. 67 into the lead for what turned out to be the final time with an hour and 40 minutes remaining, 10 minutes before pitting to turn the car over to Westbrook, who rejoined the race without losing the lead.

Westbrook then held off a hard-charging pack for the remainder of the race, beating Hand by 3.222 seconds to earn the second consecutive WeatherTech Championship victory for himself and Briscoe, who previously won the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix powered by Mazda at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in May. The win moved the No. 67 teammates to within eight points, 159-151, of GTLM championship co-leaders Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin, who co-drove the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.

“It’s just a good pairing for us at the moment,” said Westbrook, who earned his third consecutive victory at Watkins Glen International after winning the Prototype class the last two years. “Confidence is so high, so it’s nice to go to work at the Ford camp. It’s been a great 30 days, hasn’t it?

“We had a tough fight with the BMW for most of the race, but right at the end we had just that little bit to be stronger. I’m happy for my mate and happy that he made it. And I’m happy he has a trophy to take back to his girls.”

Two weeks after winning the GTE Pro class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Hand and Mueller came home second. Hand took the runner-up spot from Bill Auberlen in the No. 25 IHG Rewards Club BMW M6 GTLM with five minutes remaining. Auberlen and co-driver Dirk Werner came home third.

Nielsen, Balzan, Segal Take Second WeatherTech Championship Win of Season in No. 63 Ferrari

WeatherTech Championship GT Daytona (GTD) points co-leaders Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan extended their lead, while Jeff Segal earned his third major endurance race victory of the year in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

To do it, the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 co-drivers first had to overcome a one-lap deficit that resulted from an extended pit road stay in the first half of the race to replace an engine sensor. Balzan took the lead from Lawson Aschenbach in the No. 9 Stevenson Automotive Group Audi R8 LMS GT3 with 53 minutes remaining and then held off a charging Andy Lally in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Audi by to score the victory by 1.837 second. Lally took second with co-drivers John Potter and Dion von Moltke.

“It was not an easy job to do qualifying for three hours,” Balzan said. “We were really pushing hard out there. I didn’t expect to be that competitive, Christina found a problem in the car. We had about two hours when I didn’t think we would even finish the race, but then the team and the support from Ferrari managed to fix that problem. I was really pushing 100 percent, and as the car was burning fuel, the car was getting better and better. The secret of our three is that we are having a lot of fun.”

Balzan, Nielsen and Segal also combined to win the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida in March. Two weeks ago, Segal also won the GTE Am class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving a Scuderia Corsa Ferrari alongside 2015 WeatherTech Championship GTD co-champions Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell.

Full-time drivers Balzan and Nielsen now lead the GTD standings by 13 points, 162-149, over Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas, who finished third in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R along with endurance co-driver Ian James for Team Seattle / Heart of Racing.

• With a fourth-place result, No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R co-drivers Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner retained the lead in the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup standings with 27 points. However, their lead was trimmed to just one point over a four-way tie for second among No. 912 Porsche co-drivers Earl Bamber and Frederic Makowiecki, No. 911 Porsche teammates Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet, No. 25 BMW co-drivers Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner and No. 67 Ford GT co-drivers Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe.

• No. 23 Porsche co-drivers Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas lead the GT Daytona standings in the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup by one, 28-27, over No. 44 Audi co-drivers Andy Lally and John Potter. Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen winners Christina Nielsen, Alessandro Balzan and Jeff Segal are another point back in third.

• The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE earned the DEKRA Green Award with a sixth-place finish in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen by drivers Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella. The award recognizes the cleanest, fastest and most efficient team in the GTLM class in each race through a scoring system developed in a partnership between IMSA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy and SAE International.

• Chevrolet leads the GTLM manufacturer standings by seven, 160-153, over Porsche. With the victory, Ford moved from fourth to third in the standings with 150.

• Ferrari is now tied with Porsche for the lead in the GTD manufacturer standings with 157 points each. Audi is third, just four points in arrears.

• The next event for the WeatherTech Championship is only a week away, with all four classes traveling to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for Sunday’s Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix (live, FS1, 11 a.m. ET).

Contact:

nsiebens@imsa.com

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