POWERED BY ECOBOOST FORD GTs DOMINATE ROAD AMERICA

ELKHART LAKE, Wis., August 8, 2017 – Joey Hand and Dirk Müller took the No. 66, Ford GT to the podium for the second time this race season, in the IMSA Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America. The duo of Hand and Müller put the No. 66 on top of the podium, while the No. 67 sister-car secured P3 for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing.

“We had an exceptional weekend at Road America, coming home with two wins and a pole,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “Congratulations to Dean Martin and Jack Jr. (Roush) on their GS win and Joey (Hand) and Dirk (Müller) on the GTLM win at Road America. Ford Chip Ganassi Racing and KohR Motorsports had strong cars this weekend and with the team’s race strategy we were able to start up front and race strong all weekend.”

The Ford GTs started the race side-by-side on the front row. Dirk Müller in the No 66, captured his second pole (2:01.422) in a row at Road America and third for the season, while teammate Ryan Briscoe (2:02.203) in the No. 67 qualified second.

The direct injection, 3.6L, twin-turbo Ford EcoBoost V6 race engine performed flawlessly during the two-hour, 40-minute road race sprint. The Roush Yates Engines’ Calibration Engineers, alongside their Ford Performance teammates monitored the powerplants, adjusting calibration mappings and traction control inputs to maximize the power and performance of the Ford EcoBoost throughout the challenging 276-mile race.

“Starting from pole and really being able to manage this race is what you need to do,” Hand said. “GTLM is a tough category. There are a bunch of good drivers, a bunch of good cars and teams, so you, if you can, want to stay out front. You don’t want to get stuck in the back. That’s what we did, until that one restart. I was shuffled a little bit and got into a dogfight, ended up in the grass, but caught that quick yellow again and I was able to capitalize on it and get back out front. This is a good one for us. We had a few bad races and we’re coming up to the last run to the championship, so this is just what we needed.”

Achieving their second win of the season, secured the No. 66 valuable driver and team points as they head into the last three races of the season; Virginia International Raceway, Laguna Seca and Road Atlanta.

The No. 67 also claimed the fourth DEKRA Green Racing award in a row for being the cleanest, fastest and most efficient car in the GTLM class, which is attributed to the Ford EcoBoost engine.

Ford Driver Points Standings (after Road America)
2nd No. 66 | Joey Hand & Dirk Müller
4th No. 67 | Ryan Briscoe & Richard Westbrook
The Ford Mustang GT4 powered by the Ford Mustang 5.2L V8, also had a successful weekend in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge GS class. Dean Martin and Jack Roush Jr. earned their second win together in the No. 59 NanoProMT/Roush Performance Ford Mustang GT4 at Road America and the third win of the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge season for KohR Motorsports.

“The Mustang was fast,” said Dean Martin, owner and driver of the NanoProMT Ford Mustang.

Roush, who qualified P2, inherited the P1 position after the polesitter encountered mechanical issues on the first lap. The No. 59 built a sizeable lead on the rest of the field before inclement weather moved in and forced IMSA to red flag the race for a period of time and eventually led to race being called early.

“Dean and the team did a tremendous amount of work, getting the car ready for this race,” Roush said. “We started in very transitional conditions. It’s always kind of a challenge, as a driver, trying to find where the grip is as it’s constantly changing. You’re also trying to decide which tires to choose. The Continental tires came up to temp really well and we were just able to find more and more time out there. It was a blast.”

13 CHAMPIONSHIPS – 303 WINS – 269 POLES!

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