California's Joey Hand joined the Chip Ganassi Racing sports car program after a long stint as one of BMW's leading factory drivers, and says his first outing in the new Ford GT was welcome return to his professional roots. (Scroll down the page for video)
"I've loved racing the Ford EcoBoost Daytona Prototype this year with Ganassi, and moving from that car just a few days ago at Road Atlanta to the Ford GT at Daytona has been a great transition," Hand told RACER. "It's pretty natural for me, actually. I just came out of three years in the DTM with another manufacturer, so jumping into a really high-tech GT car again is right up my alley."
Most of Hand's sports car experience has come in some form of front-engine, production-based car, which made his first outing in the mid-engine Ford GT a new experience. Known as one of the more adaptable drivers in the sport, Hand says having Ford's twin-turbo V6 EcoBoost engine over his shoulders felt normal right away.
"The biggest thing about this car is the only GT car I've driven prior to the Ford was a German one which had the engine up front; everything else has been more of a touring car, and this was a new experience," he explained. "The Ford's mid-engine, and I really didn't know what to expect, but my feedback was pretty basic: It felt really good.
"People ask how it feels compared to a front-engine car, or even the DP with the engine in the back, but when you're driving the GT, you don't really notice it; the car just works. The steering, the braking, and all the normal stuff you interact with just worked. I expected it to handle some kind of way that made you think of where the engine is located, but it really didn't. It was pretty smooth and predictable."
Hand drew an interesting and unexpected parallel between the Ford GT and the Ford EcoBoost DP he and co-drivers Scott Pruett and Scott Dixon raced to second place at Petit Le Mans on Saturday (RIGHT).
"The GT sits really low; you actually feel like you're driving a DP car from the sightlines and how the windshield is rounded, so it's surprisingly familiar that way," he noted. "The way the fender flares are there – it's obviously different from the DP, but when you're driving the GT, what you're seeing out from the driver's seat reminds you a lot of what you see in a prototype. It felt really comfortable right away."
After two days with the car, Hand left Daytona with a positive view of the GT's potential next year in IMSA's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans class (and the FIA World Endurance Championship's GTE-Pro category).
"It didn't do anything unexpected, and that's the big thing you want from a new car," he said. "You just want it to behave normally so you can run around and learn things, and that's exactly what we were able to do. We got an initial feel for how the car reacts, and you can only learn so much in two days, but we got some great directional ideas to take to the next test. The car was flawless.
"We had all of our technical partners there, and the spirits were good across the board. I've been to some first tests where everybody leaves shaking their heads, and here, there was a really strong feeling about the progress we made and where we're headed. It's pretty awesome."
He was also pleased with the reaction his CGR team had to the Multimatic-built Ford GT during their maiden test.
"It was a successful test – I have a good feel for the car now, the engineers have a good feel for it, and they really didn't see it until they got here to Daytona, so that part was great to watch," he remarked. A lot of what they were doing was learning the basics with the car – how the bodywork goes on and off, and all that stuff. They'll get back to the shop and massage on the car more; the Ganassi guys are always on a high level when it comes to making the car run smoothly and easy to work on.
"I'd say the GT is already right there; like [CGR managing director] Mike Hull said, the build quality of the car is amazing, so now my boys will get to know the car more and make it their own. Even from a driver's eyes, I've seen a lot of new cars, and inside and out, the GT is beautifully built. It was cool listening to my guys when they were looking over the car and pointing out all of the trick little things about it. We're going to have some fun getting the car ready for next year."
op