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Written by Joe Holding
Make no mistake, the Ford GT has every chance of marking the 50th anniversary of the GT40"s first win at Le Mans in 1966 with a victory of its own this weekend.The team"s form going into the most prestigious race on the World Endurance Championship calendar a single podium at Spa and a points finish at Silverstone suggested that a fairy tale win might just be out of reach this season.And while a maiden triumph for the American team at Laguna Seca last month showed the car had potential, the timesheets at the first Le Mans test two weeks ago weren"t overly encouraging.What a difference a fortnight makes. Fast forward to the first qualifying session at Circuit de La Sarthe yesterday, and suddenly Ford Chip Ganassi Racing were in business. In Q1 they finished 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th, with only a Ferrari 488 of AF Corse preventing them from locking out the top four class positions. Yikes.With four entries two from Team USA" and two from Team UK" Ford have given themselves the best possible chance of claiming the top step of the podium come 3pm on Sunday, which will be exactly 50 years to the day since Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon led home a GT40 1-2-3.One man who appreciates the history more than most is Harry Tincknell, a 24-year-old from Devon who was left in the lurch after Nissan cancelled their LMP1 programme last winter. Despite having only driven prototypes in the WEC and in the European Le Mans Series until then, Tincknell now finds himself with a realistic chance of writing his name into the history books in the GT category instead.Here"s how he got there
Date written: 16 Jun 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 3868
Make no mistake, the Ford GT has every chance of marking the 50th anniversary of the GT40"s first win at Le Mans in 1966 with a victory of its own this weekend.The team"s form going into the most prestigious race on the World Endurance Championship calendar a single podium at Spa and a points finish at Silverstone suggested that a fairy tale win might just be out of reach this season.And while a maiden triumph for the American team at Laguna Seca last month showed the car had potential, the timesheets at the first Le Mans test two weeks ago weren"t overly encouraging.What a difference a fortnight makes. Fast forward to the first qualifying session at Circuit de La Sarthe yesterday, and suddenly Ford Chip Ganassi Racing were in business. In Q1 they finished 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th, with only a Ferrari 488 of AF Corse preventing them from locking out the top four class positions. Yikes.With four entries two from Team USA" and two from Team UK" Ford have given themselves the best possible chance of claiming the top step of the podium come 3pm on Sunday, which will be exactly 50 years to the day since Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon led home a GT40 1-2-3.One man who appreciates the history more than most is Harry Tincknell, a 24-year-old from Devon who was left in the lurch after Nissan cancelled their LMP1 programme last winter. Despite having only driven prototypes in the WEC and in the European Le Mans Series until then, Tincknell now finds himself with a realistic chance of writing his name into the history books in the GT category instead.Here"s how he got there
Date written: 16 Jun 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 3868
