Ford GT: A Week Of Highs and (Ouch!) Lows
A win last week in California, a hard crash today in Belgium.
Less than a week after the new Ford GT wins its first race in the U.S., the Europe-based sister team suffered the hardest crash in the car’s brief racing and testing history with a monster hit at Spa in the final hour of the six-hour World Endurance Championship.
The race in Belgium is considered the last formal tune-up for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Video shows that Stefan Mucke, driver of the No. 66 Ford GT, was coming down into the Eau Rouge when the car simply snapped during a gentle uphill right-hander. The car spun and went nose-first into a tire barrier. What appears to be an engine cover flies off as the car is spinning, but whether that had any bearing on the accident is unknown. Mucke, remarkably, was uninjured, save some bruising. Ford is speculating that it was caused by a flat tire.
Last week at the Continental Montery Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in California, the No. 67 Ford GT (The U.S. and Britain-Based Ford GTs are both No. 66 and 67, but they are different cars) won the GT Le Mans class when driver Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe nursed the car home on fumes, making only one pit stop when its No. 66 team car required two.
The win came in the car’s fourth outing, with the first three being Daytona, Sebring and Long Beach.
At Spa, AF Corse’s Ferrari 488 won the GTE-Pro class, with the other Ford GT, the No. 67 driven at the end by Marino Franchitti, finished second. Audi took the overall win.
