Roush Yates Engines and Ford Performance Powered Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates to First Victory of 2015 with Scott Pruett and Joey Hand
Mooresville, NC. September 21, 2015 – Roush Yates Engines and Ford Performance powered Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates to their first victory of 2015 with the 01 EcoBoost prototype at Circuit of the Americas. Scott Pruett earned his 60th North American sports car competition career win, while teammate Joey Hand captured his 14th career race.
“The good lord has blessed me with this incredible career,” said Pruett, “I’ve had a lot of teammates over the years. Joey and I probably fit together the best of any so far. He grew up across town where I live, and it’s been great.”
The 01 Ford EcoBoost prototype was fast from the onset at COTA leading all three practice sessions and set two unofficial track records in the process. Hand with a 1:57.639 in Practice 2 and Pruett with a 1:57.366 led Practice 3, both besting the previous track record.
In qualifying, Pruett set a time of 1:58:441 on the very technical 20 turn, 3.4 mile road course in Texas. It was the team’s second consecutive pole in the TUDOR United Sportscar Championship. The previous day, Multimatic Motorsports, with their Shelby GT350R-C qualified the fastest in the IMSA Continental Sportscar Challenge resulting in a pole sweeping weekend with Roush Yates Engines and Ford Performance.
“To set unofficial track records in two of the three TUDOR practices just shows how strong our Roush Yates Engines and Ford Performance vehicles are,” said Doug Yates, Roush Yates President & CEO, “Then to win the pole position in both TUDOR and Continental Tire plus winning the overall TUDOR race was the highlight to the weekend. I am excited for Road Atlanta in two weeks.”
The 01 Ford EcoBoost driven by Pruett surged to the early lead and maintained a one second gap over the field during the first 26 laps of the race before making their first pit stop. The team was the only prototype on a two stop race strategy whereas everyone else was on a three stop strategy. After the pit stop and driver change to Hand, the team came out in sixth position. Hand was on fire, setting the fastest lap of the race at that point with a time of 1:58:752.
It wouldn’t take long for Hand to regain the lead after their first pit stop. A couple full course cautions slowed the pace, but he was able to maintain composure and the lead. Hand made the team’s second and final pit stop for fuel and four tires with under an hour remaining. After the pit stop, he posted an even faster lap time of 1:58:616.
With 20 minutes remaining in the race, Hand was out to a ten second lead over second place. He cruised to a 16 second win over the field to earn the 01 Ford EcoBoost team their first victory in the TUDOR United Sportscar Championship in 2015.
“For me it’s a big one, my first win with the team as a full-time guy,” said Hand, “I’m so thankful to be a part of this team; it is a bunch of winners and champions.”
The win was the team’s fourth podium of 2015 including two second place finishes at Long Beach and Watkins Glen along with a third place finish at Road America. With just one race remaining for the team, they have a lot of momentum heading into the 10 hour Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. With two consecutive poles and podium finishes, the team has their eyes set on winning the season finale.
The same expertise and passion that goes into these winning race engines goes into providing our customers premium performance products. The Roush Yates team is dedicated to delivering power, performance and reliability to all of our customers.
Roush Yates Engines would like to thank our partners FORD Performance, Mahle Clevite, Cometic Gasket, Del West, Rottler Manufacturing, Mitee-Bite, Mitsubishi Materials U.S.A. and Safety Kleen. Roush Yates relies on these products each week in our engines as they play a vital role in our success.