TINCKNELL'S FORD GT FINISHES SECOND IN FIA WEC ENDURANCE TROPHY FOR LMGTE PRO TEAMS
Harry Tincknell brought the curtain down today (19 Nov) on a highly successful 2016 season by earning the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Team UK runners-up in the FIA LMGTE Pro Teams Endurance Trophy for the #67 Ford GT the young Briton shared with Andy Priaulx. Harry achieved his seventh FIA World Endurance Championship GTE Pro class top-five finish for the team in his first full WEC season. The 2016 European Le Mans Series LMP2 champion and Andy Priaulx brought their Ford GT home fourth in the 6 Hours of Bahrain the ninth and final round of the WEC. Tincknell was denied a fourth consecutive race win having sealed the ELMS title with victory at Estoril (POR) last month prior to GTE Pro class WEC wins in Japan and China.
The Tincknell/Priaulx Ford GT lined-up fourth in class on the grid, its pace around the 3.91-mile Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir pegged back by the series organisers for this race with a 20kg increase in minimum weight and a notable decrease in turbo boost. Their Ford GT ran fourth until mid-distance, briefly ran third early in the fourth hour, before completing the final 135mins to the chequered flag placed fourth missing out on a podium by 35secs an ambient temperature in the mid-20s remaining until the finish at 10pm on Saturday evening adding to the physical challenge for the six-hour race.
Harry says: After our two wins, the series organisers adjusted the Balance of Performance for the Bahrain event. So even before we went out on track for the first time on Thursday we knew that our rivals, especially the Aston Martin cars, would be out of reach this weekend in terms of outright speed. Andy and I did the best possible job we could getting the maximum out of the Ford GT in both qualifying and the race itself which was satisfying. I personally set the fastest Ford race lap and average so I'm really happy with my mistake-free stints. It's been a fantastic team effort from the boys all season and we took the wins when they were available. I'm proud that Andy and I finished vice-champions in the LMGTE Pro Teams Endurance Trophy just 15-points from the title winners. I'm very happy and can't wait for 2017!
