Ford Chip Ganassi Racing played the rare role of spoiler Saturday in the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park.
With Corvette Racing eyeing an historic 100th career IMSA win following what had been a dominant weekend for the team, the No. 66 Ford GT of Joey Hand slowly caught and eventually passed the No. 3 Corvette C7.R of race leader Jan Magnussen with 13 minutes remaining, driving away to an 11.431 second victory alongside co-driver Dirk Mueller.
The winning pass came when Magnussen tried to make a move on a GT Daytona (GTD) car in Turn 7. Magnussen cleared the car but ran wide, allowing Hand to slip by. It was a surprising turn of events as Magnussen and co-driver Antonio Garcia were strong all weekend, starting on the pole and combining to lead 150 of the race’s 178 laps.
“I think today we capitalized on some opportunities, some guys made mistakes and we were right there to take advantage of it,” said Hand.
“Winning races is all about that, winning championships is all about winning races.
“I hope everybody enjoyed the race today. This is one of those places where you get that feeling, you have such genuine fans here.
You can see them on the hillside, it’s like a stadium race. It’s like a short track Saturday night. I think that’s what makes this WeatherTech series a show, and it has to be a show. That’s why we’re all paid to be here.
I’ll tell you, when I get to race in the show and I get to win, that’s what makes it worth it.
It was the third consecutive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTLM win for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing with Hand and Mueller winning two races ago at Watkins Glen, and the No. 67 Ford GT of Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe winning the most recent race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
“This win truly is a win for the whole team and for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing,” said Mueller.
“I want to thank everybody, it was awesome. I’m still shaking. That’s how strong this team is. We’re always looking forward.
We came here, we didn’t know we could be that kind of strong. We knew maybe a podium was possible, but anything is possible.”
Both Ford GTs are now in the thick of a tight points battle with Corvette Racing with four races remaining.
Mueller and Hand unofficially now have 208 points with Garcia and Magnussen a point behind with 207 and Briscoe and Westbrook one point further back with 206.
The WeatherTech Championship returns to action in two weeks at Road America for the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase on Sunday, Aug. 5.
The race signals the return of the Prototype class following Lime Rock’s GT-only event and can be seen live on FS1 at 2:30 p.m. ET.
The race will be carried live by IMSA Radio on IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and SiriusXM Radio (Sirius 138/XM 202/App 972).
Corvette Racing’s Jan Magnussen says his error while leading IMSA's Northeast Grand Prix is hugely disappointing, as the battle for GT Le Mans honors heats up with just four races to go.
Magnussen and co-driver Antonio Garcia led 150 of the 178 laps at Lime Rock Park on Saturday, but in the closing 15mins as he was going off line as he lapped a GT Daytona car, Magnussen went onto the rubber tire marbles, slid off-track and allowed the Ford GT of Joey Hand to grab the lead.
Had the #3 Corvette C7.R retained the lead, their drivers would have headed the GTLM battle in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar championship.
Instead, Hand and co-driver Dirk Muller lead Magnussen and Garcia by just one point, with the #67 Ford GT pilots, Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook (who finished sixth on Sunday) just a further single point in arrears.
Said Magnussen:
“It is hard to swallow. It is tough because we had such a great car. Everyone did a fantastic job all weekend – the crew, the engineers, everybody. It was just a little bit of a longer stint for the tire compared to what the Ford had there at the end. It got difficult.
“[Hand] was catching me.
I think I could have held him off a little bit longer than I ended up doing because I got into the marbles passing a GTD car on the inside of the last corner, and it just threw me wide off the track. He drove by and that was it.
“I know going that long on the tires was going to be a challenge. But second place isn’t bad. We caught up in the championship which is good.
“Podiums are nice. They are really good for a championship, but when you lead 80 percent of the race, you want to win.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed, but for everybody it is a good result.
I wanted a little bit more for all the hard work the team put in.”
Garcia added: “It’s not what we want for sure, but a third runner-up in a row is good for our average and points.
It was so close to our first victory of the season.
"We know how close the competition is here.
The strategy was what we needed to do, and I think we knew the tire strategy and management would be the difference.
The winners had a little bit more than us in the end, so there was nothing we could really do.”
The result means Corvette still has just one victory to its name this season – the Long Beach triumph for the #4 car’s Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner at Long Beach.
This pair lie fifth in the championship, just behind Porsche’s Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor and just ahead of the other Porsche pairing of Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet.
The top six in the championship are covered by just 16 points after seven rounds, with four to go – Road America, VIR, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Petit Le Mans.
