50 Years on from Ford’s 1-2-3 finish in 1966 the 2016 Ford GT won its class and its battle with Ferrari.
 
The driving team of Frenchman Sébastien Bourdais, the American Joey Hand and Dirk Müller from Germany crossed the finish line as the overall GT winner of the world famous 24-hour endurance race.

There were 4 Ford GT’s racing and the car of Ryan Briscoe of Australia, the Kiwi Scott Dixon and Richard Westbrook from Great Britain joined the winners on the podium after finishing in third place with the other 2 Ford GT’s finished in fourth and ninth places.

The new Ford GT was first unveiled to the media at Le Mans in May 2015 and it has been reported as an extraordinary effort by the Chip Ganassi team to develop the car into a Le Mans winner in just over one year for one of the biggest challenges in sports car racing.
 
After an immense battle over the 24 hours with the Ferrari, the Ford GT took the lead for the final time in the 20th hour of the race. On three occasions Joey Hand was able to get ahead of the Ferrari rekindling the old rivalry between the two car manufacturers.

This is the 175th victory as a team owner, so Chip Ganassi becomes the only owner in history to win the Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, Rolex 24 At Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring and now the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The Ford GT earns maximum FIA World Endurance Championship points from this event, which fires up the competition for the remainder of the WEC season.

The IMSA Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team travelled back feeling well pleased after the win to get back into the next round of WeatherTech Sports Car Champs at Watkins Glen in July 2016.

September 2016