Breaking news
WEC
Ford drivers say weakest WEC tracks now gone
Ford's chances of success in this year's FIA World Endurance Championship have been boosted because the GT's weakest tracks are now off the calendar, believe Harry Tincknell and Andy Priaulx.
Jamie Klein
Edited: Mar 12, 2018, 10:32 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The revamp of the WEC schedule for the 2018/19 season has resulted in the Nurburgring, Mexico City, Austin and Bahrain all being dropped.
According to Tincknell - who finished third in last year's GTE Pro standings along with Ford teammate Priaulx - this should boost the American marque's chances this year, as it has won at every remaining track except Spa and Sebring, which has been absent from the calendar since 2012.
"Our weak tracks are off the calendar," Tincknell told Motorsport.com. "Tracks that have lots of slow corners, big acceleration zones.
"Because we’ve been [pegged back by the Balance of Performance] so much, the car doesn’t like these types of corners.
"We’ve won at pretty much every single track that’s remaining – we’ve won at Silverstone, we’ve won Le Mans, Fuji, Shanghai. I’m really hopeful that the tracks coming are going to suit us.
"It’ll be our best chance to win it. We don’t have a new car, or upgrades, or anything like that. That means we’re bomb-proof."
Priaulx echoed Tincknell's sentiments, telling Motorsport.com: "For sure the circuits [this season] are more suited to our car. We’ve got rid of Bahrain and those difficult circuits for us, with low corner speed.
"We’ve got a little buzz-box really; we need the car rolling, we need the corner speed, nothing that relies too much on low-down engine torque.
"The design of the car is Le Mans, longer wheelbase. In the slow-speed twisty stuff it’s never going to be better. It’s got a superb balance in the high-speed, and great aerodynamics, so long fast flowing circuits really suit our car."
"Determined" to deliver Ford title
Tincknell, whose WEC commitments take priority over his IMSA programme with Mazda Team Joest, expressed confidence he and Priaulx can beat Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin and win the championship on what would be Ford's third attempt.
"Myself and Andy have built up a really good partnership of youth and experience, and the results have spoken for themselves the last two years," he added. "To be able to continue that is awesome.
"I’m really confident, Andy and I are more motivated than ever. The car deserves to win a world championship, it’s performed so well over the last two years. We’re determined to make it happen."
Three-time WTCC champion Priaulx added: "Me and Harry have had an amazing partnership, we’ve always been up there fighting for the title. I’d definitely like my fourth world title, and I’m sure Harry would like his first!
"I think it’s possible, we’ve just got to be strong at the end of the year when it really counts. Ferrari were really strong at the end of last year; on Bahrain they were on another planet."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Aston Martin's new WEC car logs 20,000km in testing
Next article Wurz to return to Toyota LMP1 in WEC Prologue
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jamie Klein
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
1 mo
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
1 mo
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
More from
Andy Priaulx
Ford reveals Logan Sargeant among first WEC Hypercar drivers
WEC
WEC 9 mo
Ford reveals Logan Sargeant among first WEC Hypercar drivers
Priaulx steps down from Lynk & Co seat for 2020 WTCR season
WTCR
WTCR Jun 15, 2020
Priaulx steps down from Lynk & Co seat for 2020 WTCR season
Macau WTCR: Priaulx completes Lynk & Co hat-trick
WTCR
WTCR
Macau
Nov 17, 2019
Macau WTCR: Priaulx completes Lynk & Co hat-trick
More from
Ford Racing
Ford steps up WEC preparations with second test car
WEC
WEC 1 mo
Ford steps up WEC preparations with second test car
Ford Racing keeps IMSA GTD Pro line-up unchanged for 2027
IMSA
IMSA
Indianapolis
1 mo
Ford Racing keeps IMSA GTD Pro line-up unchanged for 2027
Ford beats Corvette in last-lap IMSA GTD Pro fight at Indianapolis
IMSA
IMSA
Indianapolis
1 mo
Ford beats Corvette in last-lap IMSA GTD Pro fight at Indianapolis
Latest news
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 3 h
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Myers Riley Motorsports adds Andretti alongside returning Fraga for 2027 IMSA GTD campaign
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 3 h
Myers Riley Motorsports adds Andretti alongside returning Fraga for 2027 IMSA GTD campaign
Las Vegas GP reveals neon sign-inspired trophy design
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Las Vegas GP
4 h
Las Vegas GP reveals neon sign-inspired trophy design
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe