Ford GT to start ‘6 Hours of Nürburgring’ on front row

NÜRBURGRING, Germany  – The #66 Ford GT will start Round 4 of the FIA World Endurance Championship from the front row of the grid after Stefan Mücke and Olivier Pla took a storming second place in today’s thrilling qualifying session at the Nürburgring in Germany.

Qualifying took place in rapidly changing weather conditions. Both of the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GTs started the session on wet weather tyres and both picked the right moment to make the switch to slick tyres.

It’s a great position to be in and we can have a strong race from here.

Stefan Mücke

“That was an interesting and challenging qualifying session,” commented WEC Team Principal, George Howard-Chappell. “We are very pleased with second place on the grid. We’re slightly disappointed we didn’t capitalise on it as we feel we could have taken the whole front row but I think a few teams will be saying that today! It’s good to have the championship leading car in P2 and we’re looking forward to a good race.”

German racer, Stefan Mücke put in a strong banker lap before handing over to Pla as the times of the two qualifying drivers are averaged out to form their final lap time. The German then jumped back in for another attempt at pole position but was pipped to the post by just two-tenths of a second.

“We knew the track was going to dry quickly so we had a good strategy for that,” Mücke explained. “I did a banker on wets then we took a gamble to send Olivier (Pla) out on slicks. He put in a great lap straight away so we decided that I would get back in to get our average time down. It’s a great position to be in and we can have a strong race from here.”

Tincknell and Priaulx take fifth spot in #67 Ford GT

Harry Tincknell and Andy Priaulx put in some blistering lap times today but after one of Tincknell’s fastest laps was deleted due to a track limits infringement they had a battle on their hands to get back up the order.

“We managed to take provisional pole but the track was drying so quickly at the end,” said Tincknell. “In those conditions you don’t want to be first across the line for that last flyer, which is what happened to us and we dropped to fifth. I had my first lap deleted as I hit a damp spot and ran wide at turn four so we didn’t have time for Andy (Priaulx) to get back in for another run. That’s the way it goes sometimes. The good news is that we made some changes to the car overnight and that has got is back in the performance window so I’m looking forward to a good race tomorrow.”

The 6 Hours of Nürburgring race starts tomorrow at 13:00 CET.

Ford Chip Ganassi Racing