Yahoo Autos When Working Hard for a Win Pays Off
It's been a while since my last column for Road & Track but I've got some fairly significant news. At the Six Hours of Fuji, Japan, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing came home first and second with car (#67), 'my' car, taking a maiden win for the WEC team! It was a momentous occasion for the whole team, the first win in any racing program is massive, but with everything we've been through this season we needed this even more.
And it was no easy win, in fact I can honestly say it was toughest of my whole career. Every single lap was a qualifying lap and I felt like I was close to sticking it in the gravel trap at least once every time around the 4.6km circuit. I was really happy to get the fastest lap of the race and with it, a new lap record in the GT class at Fuji Speedway. The win was clearly on after qualifying where we were 1-2 on the grid, the #66 pipping us by four hundredths of a second. It might sound crazy but I actually knew the first corner would be crucial, even in a six hour race. We were so closely matched all weekend with the other side of the garage and I knew the #66 crew of Stefan Mucke and recent Petit Le Mans race winner, Olivier Pla, were going to be incredible opposition to overcome.
So track position from the start was vital and thankfully I managed to come out the first corner ahead. After that it was just head down the whole race, I don't think the gap was ever more than about eight seconds right until the final 60/70 minutes when Olivier had a small spin. I've never known four drivers come out of the race all saying how hard they had been pushing for six hours but huge credit for the win also has to go to the team. We're really starting to gel now and to bring together 50 or 60 guys and girls and expect them to win straight away is an incredibly tough ask. But with every race our pit stops and strategy has improved and they were totally faultless all weekend. I have to admit that the celebrations went long into the night in Tokyo!
I think the feeling on the podium was more of relief than anything else. When a racing driver hasn't won for a few months they start to get uptight and wonder when the next one is coming along. In fact, I hadn't been to the podium at all since July, at the Four Hours of Red Bull Ring with JOTA Sport in the European Le Mans Series. And it's not that I don't feel like I've been driving well, things just really haven't come together at the right moments! In Nürburgring WEC race we had a freak fire in the pit lane caused by some debris lodged in the refueller nozzle when running second, in Mexico we started at the back after Andy [Priaulx] had a small off in qualifying but I stormed up to fourth on the first lap and ran as high as second before we made the wrong call on a 50-50 tyre gamble near the end of the race and were forced to make an extra pit stop, dropping us to fifth. And at Ford's 'home' race in COTA, we had a solid race to fourth, with delays in the pits costing us more than the 10 seconds we were adrift of the podium. So we've had our far share of drama but I guess that's why were all so animated with our celebrations in Fuji!
The Ford GT is designed for Le Mans, to be quick on the straights but stable in the high speed sections such as the Porsche Curves, so it's no wonder that it was well suited to Fuji, with one of the longest straights in motor sport plus the high speed turns of 130R. Looking ahead to the rest of the WEC season we've got the final two races in Shanghai and Bahrain to go. Those circuits are similar to Fuji, where aero efficiency is vital to success so hopefully the car can be as competitive as we were in Japan.
After the Fuji race, I flew 7,000 miles to Lisbon for the final round of the European Le Mans Series with G Drive Racing at Estoril in Portugal. We went into the final race sitting second in the overall points with my team mates Simon Dolan and Giedo van der Garde and we knew we had to go flat out for the win, since we also needed some luck we were going to pull off the title. It's been a tough season in what is the mighty Gibson's final season of racing, over 10 years after it made its debut. The Oreca Coupe's have finally caught up with the old girl, but at Estoril she had the final laugh before going into retirement. Having qualified third on the grid, Giedo drove really well to lead in the first hour before handing over to Simon. In my opinion, Simon drove one of the races of his life, lapping quickly and consistently to increase the lead. A brief Safety Car lost us 30 seconds but he got his head down once again to hand the car over to me with around a 25 second lead. I was nervous, TDS Racing, our championship competitors were out with a problem and if we could hold onto the win we would be champions. I didn't want to go out and cruise around, that's when you make mistakes because you're not fully concentrating, so I just pushed like it was any other race to try and build a gap if we needed a final pit stop for a puncture or something silly like that. Over the final hour and a half I managed to get the gap up to 71 seconds from the battling Stefano Colletti and Olivier Pla before going into serious car conservation in the final 15 minutes, eventually finishing over 50 seconds clear of Nico Lappierre in the Dragonspeed car.
We did it! I owe this car everything, without the win at Le Mans in 2014, maybe I wouldn't currently be driving in the WEC with Ford. It helped launch my career in Endurance racing and I am so happy for everyone at G Drive/JOTA Sport as we'd come so close yet so far to winning this title in 2014 and 2015–each time losing out by just four points. The car now goes into a happy retirement.
Having the European title on my CV is fantastic and after the final two WEC races the winter break begins. I'm working flat out to do more races in America next season and I really hope to make my IMSA debut at Daytona in January. I was there watching this year and it is a fantastic event and it has only made me more determined to be on the grid for 2017. I proved I can mix it with the best in LMP2 in Europe and at Le Mans and with the Prototype class in IMSA going fully to LMP2 cars for next season, I really want to mix it with the best in America. Let's hope we can continue this winning streak in the final two races of the season and my racing schedule for next year starts with a trip to Florida in January.
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