Richard Westbrook: Sebring final lap battle ended podium fightback

After 12 hours and 333 laps, our 2017 Sebring 12 Hours came down to the most important lap of the race – the final one.

Over the course of the event, and as the track rubbered in, our Ford GT was getting slightly less competitive due to an imbalance. I took the final stint of the race in the cool Florida evening and the understeer was worse than in my previous stint during the warmth of the afternoon.

Coming into that final lap I was third, and set for our first podium of 2017. It was a strong improvement on the previous race after weeks of hard work by the Chip Ganassi Racing Team.

In my mirrors I had the Ferrari of James Calado. I’d managed to edge out a small gap over the last couple of laps which should’ve meant we secured third. Unfortunately I got some GTD traffic in the run to turn five, which allowed him to close up.

In the run to hairpin he was closer still, but not close enough to make a move; or so I thought. I turned in; whack, and James lobbed a move down the inside of me. I got on the grass and had dirt on the tyres, but collected the car and pursued him in the run to turn ten. As I touched the brake, the rear wheels locked because of the dirt on the rubber, and I lost the car momentarily.

We crossed the line fourth, which is no bad result at all. It’s just frustrating to be demoted in that fashion after 12 hours of racing, and annoying also because a Ferrari delivered a similar move on us last year at Sebring too.

I have no issue with James, he’s a good guy and no doubt felt he had a decent opportunity to pass, but it’s not nice to be on the receiving end of contact, and even worse to lose a podium.  I’ve been racing in America for nine years now, and that’s what racing is here in the States. You just deal with it and move on.

Looking for the Sebring sweet spot

After some disappointment at Daytona, Ryan [Briscoe], Scott [Dixon] and I were keen to make a mark on Sebring. It’s one of my favourite circuits here in the US, I love the challenge it presents, and I took a win here back in 2013. You never know exactly what the track is going to be like at the end of the race, such is the amount it evolves of the course of the week as rubber goes down and conditions change.

On reflection, we were probably guilty of chasing the track a bit too much in practice. We didn’t have a particularly stellar night practice either and maybe that hurt us in the race. It’s so important to make every single session count at Sebring; you can’t assume the track will ever be the same from one session to another.

Friday Ryan put out a great lap for qualifying. The car was at is best and he felt very confident with the car, sticking us on pole alongside the #66 sister crew.

Unfortunately it didn’t materialise into us starting on pole as we had an issue starting the car before the race. This meant we had to start from pit lane, and that carries a penalty of going through the pits too, so we had a job on our hands to get back into contention. But, in a 12-hour race, it’s not the worse situation, as yellow flags help get you back in contention.

Sure enough, that’s what happened, and when I took over from Ryan after his opening two hours, within a few laps of my first stint we led the GTLM class. It was a masterstroke by the team to engineer the opportunity and that type of strategy is what you expect from the boys at Ganassi.

I really enjoyed my double stint in the middle of the race; it looked like we had the fastest car at that point, but from then on it just became harder to drive. Scott and Ryan felt it was more difficult to drive as the race progressed, with the understeer clearly getting worse. Sometimes that happens at Sebring, you have a great car in the day and as the evening draws in and the temperatures drop, it changes.  We’ll continue to learn and evolve; the whole team are relentless in their pursuit of victory.

Golden-era Ganassi

Overall as I look back on the weekend, we’re now in a stronger position than last year and that wasn’t a bad season; we ended up challenging for the title at the final race. If we can string a run of podiums together again, we’ll be in great shape come Road Atlanta.

Long Beach is next up and we’re all really encouraged by how things are progressing. The momentum is really behind the Fords at the moment and the #66 is getting some great results. All three Fords had a period in the lead of the race and we all finished in the top five. That’s seventeen podium finishes for the Ford GT in just over twelve months, which is fantastic. 

Reliability, pace and tyre knowledge have come together now, so we know where we are and what we need to do to kick on. It’s also a great time to be part of Ganassi right now. With the successes in IndyCar and NASCAR, coupled with our results in IMSA, it feels like we’re amidst another golden era for the team.