Ford Looks To Continue GTLM Winning Streak In Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix At Canadian Tire Motorspo

Ford Chip Ganassi Racing will be looking to make it three in a row in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) competition in Sunday’s Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (live, FS1, 11 a.m. ET).

Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe scored the second consecutive GTLM triumph for the No. 67 Ford GT in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. The race produced the first 1-2 finish for Ford’s new supercar, with the No. 66 of Dirk Mueller and Joey Hand – recent GTE Pro class winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans – placing second in the No. 66 Ford GT. Watkins Glen also saw Westbrook capture Ford’s first pole position in the class.

“It’s such a good period for us at the moment,” Westbrook said. “Confidence is so high. It’s just a pleasure going to work every day in this Ford camp. It’s just been an amazing 30 days.”

Nick Tandy and reigning GTLM champion Patrick Pilet are the defending Canadian Tire Motorsport Park GTLM winners and return in the No. 911 Porsche North American Porsche 911 RSR. Earl Bamber and Frederic Makowiecki share the sister No. 912 entry.

“It’s great to come back to CTMP,” Pilet said. “We love the track and we had a great performance last year. It was the beginning of a very successful series of wins for Nick and myself which finally led to the GTLM title. It’s a really quick track, very impressive – I think it’s one of the quickest tracks in the world. When you win there, it’s a big victory because you have to be brave.”

Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner, drivers of the No. 4 Corvette Racing C7.R, lead the GTLM standings over Westbrook and Briscoe by eight points, 159-151. Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia, drivers of the No. 3 Corvette C7.R, finished third in last year’s race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

BMW finished third at Watkins Glen, with Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner in the No. 25 BMW Team RLL IHG Rewards Club BMW M6 GTLM. John Edwards and Lucas Luhr drive the team’s No. 100 entry.

Leading Ferrari is the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE of Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander, second place finishers in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Scuderia Corsa’s Nielsen, Balzan Enjoy 13-Point Lead In GT Daytona

Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan scored their second GT Daytona (GTD) victory of the season in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 to extend their lead in the standings.

Entering the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix, the sixth of 11 races making up the GTD championship, the pair holds a 13-point lead over Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas – drivers of the No. 23 Team Seattle/Heart of Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, 162-149.

“We had some issues early in the race at Watkins Glen, but the fact that we were standing on the top of the podium shows that this was a total team effort,” said Nielsen, who also won with Balzan and Jeff Segal in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida. “We are very lucky to have very talented engineers who nailed the strategy, and a team that was able to keep us in the race.”

Andy Lally and John Potter finished second at The Glen in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Audi Tire Center/Auric Solar Audi R8 LMS GT3, and are third in the GTD standings with 141 points.

Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen won the most recent GTD class event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, back in 2014. They will drive the No. 33 Riley Motorsports ViperExchange.com/Cruising with the Monkey Dodge Viper GT3-R, and are fourth in the standings with a victory at Detroit.

Practice for the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix begins at 10:35 a.m. ET on Friday, with qualifying on Saturday at 3:40 p.m. ET.

Contact:

nsiebens@imsa.com

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