Ford GT Wins Third Straight WeatherTech Championship Race; Westbrook, Briscoe Gain Ground In GT Le M

The No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT team of Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe earned their third consecutive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans class victory in Sunday’s Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Unlike the previous two victories for the No. 67 duo, however, this one came as somewhat of a surprise.

“I am surprised a bit,” Westbrook said. “We were struggling a bit on Friday, but we just kept improving the car all weekend. We knew we had a shot for the podium, but we kept dreaming big. We needed something special to win, and that’s what we got today.”

What they got was a masterful strategy call from Ford Chip Ganassi Racing. After running most of the first half of the race in third or fourth place, the team took tires for the final time when they pitted under full-course caution an hour and 20 minutes into the two-hour and 40-minute race.

The No. 67 was sixth in class following that stop, but as the cars running ahead of them made their final pit stops for fuel and tires under green-flag conditions, Briscoe gradually worked his way to the class lead. Then, with approximately 50 minutes remaining in the race, the Ganassi team brought Briscoe onto pit road for a seven-second splash of fuel only and sent him back on course without losing the lead.

That made all the difference, as Briscoe maintained a reasonable, 5-6-second gap to Tommy Milner’s No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R for the remaining distance to score the third-straight WeatherTech Championship win for the team. Briscoe and Westbrook also won the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix powered by Mazda at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in May and the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International last weekend.

“We were in tire and fuel conservation mode as soon as we left the pits, but needed some help,” Briscoe said. “When everyone else pitted we knew we had the opportunity to take a splash of fuel but not change tires. It was a brilliant call by the team. Tommy was a bit quicker, but I was just trying to hang on and bring it home.”

The victory moved Westbrook and Briscoe closer to the GTLM points lead. They now trail Milner and his No. 4 Corvette co-driver Oliver Gavin by five points, 192-187. Gavin and Milner finished second, while their teammates, Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen finished third in the No. 3 Corvette C7.R. Garcia started the race from the pole position and led throughout his 42-minute opening stint, while Magnussen also led for more than 50 minutes.

Klingmann, Curtis Give BMW M6 GT3 Its First WeatherTech Championship Victory

Jens Klingmann went from third place to first in the GT Daytona (GTD) class with a brilliant pass in Canadian Tire Motorsport Park’s famed Moss Corner with 30 minutes remaining to give the BMW M6 GT3 its first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory in the No. 96 Spectra Resources / United Steel / Valspar Paint / IHG Rewards Club entry from Turner Motorsport.

Klingmann got around both Jeroen Bleekemolen in the No. 33 ViperExchange.com / Cruising with the Monkey Dodge Viper GT3-R, who was running second in class, and the leading No. 27 Dream Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 driven by Fabio Babini. He then pulled away from the rest of the GTD field over the closing laps to score the victory for himself and co-driver Bret Curtis, who started the race from fourth on the class grid.

“I knew that when (team owner Will) Turner came on the radio and he said this is the fight for the lead and the win, we had a chance for the win,” Klingmann said. “(Bleekemolen) was fighting very hard, it was tough to stay close to him in [going into Turn] 5b. Just then, the traffic came towards us, and I think the Lambo was just too wide, so I tried the only way on the inside. When I got him, I had a little celebration in the car up to Turn 8, but it was short lived.

“I was just managing the pace because we were running out of fuel. We did a short stop to get out in front of the Audis. I’m really proud, this is my first win in North America, and the first win for this new BMW.”

After Klingmann made the pass, Bleekemolen and Babini made contact which brought the No. 33 Viper onto pit road with front-end damage. Babini, who led for more than 20 minutes, made his final pit stop shortly thereafter enabling the No. 6 Stevenson Auto Group Audi R8 LMS GT3 co-driven by Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis to move into second and the No. 48 Castrol Edge / Universal Industrial Sales Lamborghini Huracán GT3 of Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow into third, where both would finish.

The No. 23 Heart of Racing Porsche GT3 R from Alex Job Racing / Team Seattle handily led the GTD class through the first half of the race with both the class pole-winning driver, Alex Riberas, and co-driver Mario Farnbacher. However, the car lost its left-front wheel with an hour and six minutes to go and endured a lengthy stay on pit road, ending up 12th in class.

• The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE earned the DEKRA Green Award with a seventh-place finish in the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix 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.

• The third-place finish by Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow in Paul Miller Racing’s No. 48 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 represented the first WeatherTech Championship podium result for Lamborghini.

• A fourth-place finish in the GTD class enabled No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 co-drivers Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan to extend their lead in the class point standings. Unofficially, they now lead No. 23 Porsche co-drivers Riberas and Farnbacher by 22 points, 191-169.

• Chevrolet leads the GTLM manufacturer standings, 192-185, over Ford, which moved from third to second with the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix victory. Porsche is third in GTLM with 181 points.

• Ferrari and Audi are now tied in the GTD manufacturer standings with 185 points apiece. Porsche is third, just two points behind the leaders.

Contact:

nsiebens@imsa.com

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