The two Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GTs will start the Chinese round of the FIA World Endurance Championship from fourth and fifth place tomorrow. The #67 Ford GT of Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell will start the 6 Hours of Shanghai on the second row of the grid in fourth place with the #66 sister Ford GT of Stefan Mücke and Olivier Pla right behind them in fifth position.
“Qualifying didn’t quite go to plan,” said Dave Pericak, global director, Ford Performance. “I thought we had a better run in us. The Ferrari got in front of the #67 when it was on fresh tyres, which didn’t help but it’s going to be a long race tomorrow. We have strong cars and we’ll be ready for the race.”
Priaulx went out first in the #67 Ford GT but just as he passed the pit exit to attack his first flying lap on fresh tyres he found the track to be full of a slower moving Ferrari.
“That was a disappointing session for us as I came across a Ferrari parked in the middle of the first corner on my flying lap,” Priaulx said. “That took the peak out of my lap so I managed a reasonable time but obviously not a pole position time. Harry then went out and did a great job to get us up to fourth place, which really saved us. We’ve got a lot of work to do tomorrow but as always we’ll give it everything we’ve got.
The focus for the #66 Ford GT during the practice sessions was to work towards the perfect set up for the race. Fifth place in qualifying sets Mücke and Pla up for an assault on the podium tomorrow.
“We have been concentrating on race strategy so we only used one set of tyres and did the minimum number of laps in qualifying,” Mücke said. “I’m sure we could have sneaked out a quicker time but our focus is on the race as tyre drop off is a significant factor here. We need to be on the best rubber to maximise our potential and we should also remember that anything can happen at the start of this race.”
“Our long race simulation runs have been strong so we’re looking forward to the race,” said WEC Team Principal, George Howard-Chappell. “It’s interesting that some of the cars ahead of us chose to use two sets of tyres in qualifying, which may have an effect in the race.”
The 6 Hours of Shanghai gets underway tomorrow (Sunday, Nov. 5) at 11:00hrs local time (04:00 CET).
