- Ford Chip Ganassi Racing started the Michelin GT Challenge in third and fourth place, finish fifth, sixth.
- The No. 66 GT was turned by a competitor entering the Roller Coaster with 40 minutes remaining.
- Ryan Briscoe started off the day driving an Aussie V8 Supercar Mustang in celebration of the car’s success in the Virgin Atlantic Supercars Championship.
ALTON, Va., Aug. 25, 2019–The picturesque landscape of Virginia International Raceway hosted a fairly frustrating finish for the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GTs on Sunday afternoon, ending a winning streak that spanned the previous two rounds.
Solid pace and creative race strategy were both foiled by untimely cautions and in the case of the No. 66 Ford GT of Dirk Mueller and Joey Hand, contact with a competitor in the second half of the race. After a restart with under 10 minutes remaining, both Ford GTs pushed against the rest of the GTLM field but were not able to overcome the standings deficit, finishing fifth (67) and sixth (66).
“I still think our strength was the last 15 laps of a stint,” said Briscoe, who started the race in the No. 67. “It was cooler today, so we weren’t really able to gain much of an advantage. The car was handling great, though it did feel like we were having to give up a bit too much on cold tires, so we lost a bit of time there. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a very exciting result, but it really was a hard-fought race with some real battles, and the team did a great job as always.”
Briscoe started off the day driving a special demonstration lap in a Ford Mustang V8 Supercar visiting from Australia, alongside co-driver Richard Westbrook in the No. 67 Ford GT and Jade Buford in a Multimatic Mustang GT4.
“I only did one lap, but it felt really good,” said Briscoe. “Every time I’ve driven a Supercar it’s been so special, and around a track like VIR it’s a real treat. A big thank you to everyone involved on making this happen. The car was beautifully prepared and was so awesome to drive.”
Briscoe, Westbrook, Hand and Mueller will return to action when the WeatherTech Championship enters the penultimate round of 2019 at Laguna Seca on Sept. 13-15.
