Marino Franchitti, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas drove the No. 01 Ford EcoBoost-powered Riley DP to victory, yesterday at the 62nd running of the famous 12 Hours of Sebring.
A well timed pit stop, just before a caution, helped the trio move from 5th to 1st in the last hour of the race.
This first win for an EcoBoost engine is also Ford's first at the 12 Hours of Sebring since 1969. Furthermore, it completes Chip Ganassi Racing's resume, as the team has now won the four biggest races in North America: the Daytona 500, the Indy 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona and, finally, the 12 Hours of Sebring.
"What really makes it so sweet is that this is a win made possible by a production-based Ford EcoBoost," said Ford's racing director Jamie Allison.
"Literally it comes out of our production vehicle. It just makes it so, so sweet because it validates what we do at Ford, that the technology we have in our cars is good enough to power an all-out win here at the 12 Hours of Sebring."
Franchitti, Pruett and Rojas completed a total of 291 laps. In comparison, last year's winners Marcel Fässler, Benoît Tréluyer and Oliver Jarvis managed 364 laps in 12 Hours, albeit at the wheel of an LMP1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro.
Race results – 12 Hours of Sebring (round 2 of 13)
1 - Pruett/Rojas/Franchitti (Riley-Ford) - Ganassi - 291 laps
2 - Sharp/Dalziel/Brabham (HPD ARX03B) - Extreme Speed - 4"682
3 - Barbosa/Fittipaldi/Bourdais (Coyote-Corvette) - ActionX - 8"965
4 - Pla/Brundle/Yacaman (Morgan-Nissan) - OAK - 11"9942
5 - Brown/Van Overbeek/Pagenaud (HPD ARX03B) - Extreme Speed - 17027
6 - Dixon/Kanaan/Karam (Riley-Ford) - Ganassi - 17"837
7 - Angelelli/R.Taylor/J.Taylor (Dallara-Corvette) - Taylor - 34"229
8 - Br.Frisselle/Bu.Frisselle/Fogarty (Coyote-Corvette) - ActionX - 39"559
9 - Pew/Negri/Wilson (Riley-Ford) - Shank - 40"568
10 - Bennett/Braun/Gue (Oreca FLM09) - Core - 3 laps
(...)
A well timed pit stop, just before a caution, helped the trio move from 5th to 1st in the last hour of the race.
This first win for an EcoBoost engine is also Ford's first at the 12 Hours of Sebring since 1969. Furthermore, it completes Chip Ganassi Racing's resume, as the team has now won the four biggest races in North America: the Daytona 500, the Indy 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona and, finally, the 12 Hours of Sebring.
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| Marino Franchitti, Memo Rojas, Scott Pruett (Photo: Chip Ganassi Racing) |
"What really makes it so sweet is that this is a win made possible by a production-based Ford EcoBoost," said Ford's racing director Jamie Allison.
"Literally it comes out of our production vehicle. It just makes it so, so sweet because it validates what we do at Ford, that the technology we have in our cars is good enough to power an all-out win here at the 12 Hours of Sebring."
Franchitti, Pruett and Rojas completed a total of 291 laps. In comparison, last year's winners Marcel Fässler, Benoît Tréluyer and Oliver Jarvis managed 364 laps in 12 Hours, albeit at the wheel of an LMP1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro.
Race results – 12 Hours of Sebring (round 2 of 13)
1 - Pruett/Rojas/Franchitti (Riley-Ford) - Ganassi - 291 laps
2 - Sharp/Dalziel/Brabham (HPD ARX03B) - Extreme Speed - 4"682
3 - Barbosa/Fittipaldi/Bourdais (Coyote-Corvette) - ActionX - 8"965
4 - Pla/Brundle/Yacaman (Morgan-Nissan) - OAK - 11"9942
5 - Brown/Van Overbeek/Pagenaud (HPD ARX03B) - Extreme Speed - 17027
6 - Dixon/Kanaan/Karam (Riley-Ford) - Ganassi - 17"837
7 - Angelelli/R.Taylor/J.Taylor (Dallara-Corvette) - Taylor - 34"229
8 - Br.Frisselle/Bu.Frisselle/Fogarty (Coyote-Corvette) - ActionX - 39"559
9 - Pew/Negri/Wilson (Riley-Ford) - Shank - 40"568
10 - Bennett/Braun/Gue (Oreca FLM09) - Core - 3 laps
(...)