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IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTS CAR CHAMPIONSHIP: ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA

January 28, 2018

Dayton Beach, Florida

THE MODERATOR: We're joined now by our GTLM winners. Drivers of the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT. Joined now by Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook, Scott Dixon and team owner Chip Ganassi. Today's win marks a 200th victory for Chip Ganassi Racing as an organization. That's broken down into 103 IndyCar wins, 56 sports car, 39 stock car and two Rallycross car victories.
The team now has eight wins in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in just 15 attempts. They have six total overall wins in the prototype category and now two in the GTLM class. And this is the second consecutive win in the Rolex 24 at Daytona's GTLM class for the team. Gentlemen, congratulations. Some observations from your victory today.
RICHARD WESTBROOK: It was just an amazing 24‑hour race for us. I think I said it earlier, racing with your teammates, you know, they're our friends and racing that hard for 24 hours, there was just nothing in it. It felt like ages we were just one second apart. It was so incredible. It was so intense.
I thought we put on a really good show. There was no team orders. We raced hard. And, yeah, to come away with a 200th win for Chip and Dan Gurney on our car as well, it made it ever so sweet.
THE MODERATOR: It's also your first win.
RICHARD WESTBROOK: Finally, yeah. It's only taken 12 goes. Yeah, I just always seemed to come in second in 24‑hour races. And I'm sort of weighing up there the chances and I just thought before the race, okay, it's a 1 in 4 chance. It's between us and the Corvettes or maybe a Ferrari thrown in. If we keep our nose clean those chances will get better and better. That's what we did.
We had a good pace. We executed really well. We got lots of new guys on our pit crew. So to come away with a win straight off the bat is just incredible.
RYAN BRISCOE: Just huge achievement by the whole team, just to see both cars running so strong from start to finish, a huge testament to the team.
I mean, just the work that everyone puts in this team. There hasn't been any down time since Road Atlanta. And a lot of change on the team since then, especially on the 65 side. We've got a lot of new people. And they've just integrated themselves so well into this program. And I mean it showed today.
For their first race, running with us, running the car, pit stops, driver changes, everything. It was just perfect. And I'm so proud of the whole team, of my teammates. It was just perfect.

Q. Scott, this is your third class win. Talk about that and today's victory?
SCOTT DIXON: It's always fantastic to win here at Daytona. It means a lot and the history that this place has and this race by itself. But for me, I don't know, it was probably one of the most nervous races coming down to the wire, just seeing how the team was playing out and racing so closely with the 66 car.
And there was really nothing much in it, strategy and just how everybody played their part as the other two drivers commented, lots of new people on the 67 side. And they did everything flawlessly.
But just how reliable the cars were. I don't think we had one single problem. So it's something for Ford and everybody in the Ford GT program to be very proud of. And I'm just excited and extremely happy to be part of this and it was one hell of a win. And Richard and Ryan and everybody in Chip Ganassi Racing just did an amazing job.

Q. Chip, 200th win, you started the weekend off being the grand marshal yesterday and end up with the win. And lots of things to talk about.
CHIP GANASSI: It's obviously been a great win and a great weekend. I don't know what to say.
I think in terms of the win, it was, I think, like Scott Dixon said for me, too, it was one of the most nerve‑racking races I think when you come out of the blocks fast like that.
And we were leading it after about, I don't know, three or four hours or something. After a certain amount of hours go around the clock a little bit, it's your race to lose. It's one thing not to win the race; it's another if you lose it.
So it was our race to lose. And those are the worst races from my point of view because everything is out of my control. My hat's off to the team, to the drivers, the engineers, the mechanics, the people that build the engines, the people that build the cars. They're the ones that deserve to be sitting up here along with the drivers, not myself.

Q. Chip, can you talk about Surfers Paradise 1994 celebrating that first win with Michael? I don't know if you imagined if you'd be celebrating 200, but just give us a little bit of context of how far the team's come.
CHIP GANASSI: Yeah, we were a one‑car team then. And obviously having more than one car helps you to‑‑ more chances to get to victory circle, I guess. And obviously that was a big race, when you look back on the thing. I think in terms of the 200 wins, I think there's a time and a place to talk about that.
Today, we're the kind of team that we just focus on trying to do the best we can today. And of course yesterday, we tried that too. And that's how we approach every day. Today's win is about here at Daytona, it's about the Rolex. It's about these three guys up here.
When we're talking to our little grandkids and we'll talk about 200 wins and about Michael's win in Surfers Paradise or Montoya's win at Indy or Dixon's win at Indy or the first time we won the Rolex or first time we won Daytona.
Those kind of things, we'll have plenty of time to talk about. But I think we're just the type of team that, like Mike Hull always said, let's try to do the best job we can do today. What can we do about what's in front of us today? That's how we approach things.

Q. Scott, you've won races for Chip on both IndyCar and here. What makes him or what makes the organization able to win all these races?
SCOTT DIXON: I think Chip explained it. I think for me it's the personnel. I think Chip and Mike and everybody involved, they have such a great group of people that work very well together. And everybody just wants to win.
I think that's the most simple thing is that we come here each weekend to win. There's no thinking about finishing or finishing second or so on.
So for me, I think it's everybody thrives on the winning culture that this team has and they've definitely proven it in many ways, with Chip obviously across many different disciplines in auto racing. And I don't know, to me that's the biggest part is the people that work on this team, they're a great bunch to be a part of and we're here to win.
THE MODERATOR: One note on that, 41 of these 200 wins have come with Scott behind the wheel.
(Applause)
Q.Richard, you might be best to answer this but could you talk about when the lead changed between the two team cars and perhaps talk about that and what happened?
RICHARD WESTBROOK: Well, there wasn't just one time. I guess you're referring to the last time, yeah. So there was a little bit of strategy being played out between the two teams. It was really cool just to witness the whole thing. Everyone was trying to outsmart each other.
And we chose to short fill and I think that's‑‑ am I right in saying that's what got us out in the lead?
UNIDENTIFIED: Absolutely.
RICHARD WESTBROOK: They put me out in a nice clean track, new tires, was able to push, had a good out lap and able to build up a lead. And I think that sort of took the pressure off. And, yeah, they tried to react to that and do the short fill next time as you obviously would. And by that point we were on the front (indiscernible), and I think we pretty much had sewn it up by then.

Q. Did you feel like you knew something like that had to happen in order for (indiscernible)?
RICHARD WESTBROOK: Yeah, because obviously the cars were the same. It was very, very difficult to make the pass. There was a few bit of passing between the two cars in the race but they're so so evenly matched it took a mistake or something in traffic to make that move. It did require something from the pit crew, and our side of the garage did a great job and they can take a lot of credit for this win.

Q. Is it possible or technically possible all the data you gained from this race and technical information, et cetera, to transfer it directly to your European team in World Endurance Championship? Or are the cars not the same or not identical?
CHIP GANASSI: I think there's always an opportunity to, there's always an opportunity to exchange information with your teammates. I think we're willing to exchange any amount of information with our teammates. And sometimes they take it and sometimes they don't.

Q. Scott, coming from IndyCar you only do this three, four times a year, were you impressed by the driving standards that led to such a clean race where there were only four cautions?
SCOTT DIXON: Yes, I think I made the comment that it was going to be a ton of cautions throughout the race. But, yeah, it was really good. There were some close moments and some really good racing, but actually everybody gave good room and worked well out there.
I think definitely in those mixed conditions, too, I thought we were going to open up for some instances of some crashes. But there was definitely some scenarios. I think race control kind of let it fly, too, with some cars stranded out there and later on they were able to remove them. But I was very surprised how much green running we had.

Q. Chip, as you start to reflect on 200 wins and all the success across all different divisions, what's next? What frontier have you not gone to and one that you want to?
CHIP GANASSI: I don't know. That's a good question. I just, like I said, I try to just‑‑ as the team grows, it does get to be a bit burdensome at times to keep growing at the pace we have been over the years.
So I think I'm happy at this point to just kind of make sure we're stepping on solid ground for the next few years and I'll be happy. So, yeah, I think we're sort of just solidifying our current position, if you will.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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