Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell drivers of the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team put the Ford GT on the pole at the 6 Hours of Shanghai, in the FIA World Endurance Championship series.
This pole position marked the 250th pole in NASCAR and Road Racing for Roush Yates Engines in partnership with Ford Performance since 2004. The No. 67 recorded a qualifying lap time of 2:01.391 and the No. 66 of Stefan Mucke and Olivier Pla were a mere .137s behind to make it an all Ford front row.
This milestone is a shared achievement of 47 dynamic drivers and the greatest race teams in the industry, which includes a legendary motorsports lineup. It consists of NASCAR HALL of Famers, NASCAR Sprint Cup Champions, Daytona 500 winners, Indianapolis winners, NASCAR Xfinity Champions, NASCAR Camping World Truck drivers, IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship drivers, Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Champions, 24 Hours of Le Mans winners and FIA World Endurance Championship drivers.
Over the past 13 years, Roush Yates Engines has partnered with Ford Performance to design, develop and build world-class winning race engines. The partnership started with the Roush Yates Engines’ C3 race engine in 2004 and has evolved into the 2016 NASCAR Ford FR9 EFI and twin-turbo Ford EcoBoost race engines.
In 2004 and 2005 the Roush Yates Engines’ C3 V8 and D3 V8 race engines were the power under the hood for both Greg Biffle of Roush Racing and Dale Jarrett of Robert Yates Racing when they won their respective Daytona 500 poles.
Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines recalls one of his favorite moments as the newly formed company took to the track for the first time in 2004 – “The proudest moment for me was, when we qualified for the Daytona 500, Jack Roush’s car with Greg Biffle on the pole and my Dad’s car with Elliott Salder was the outside pole.”
NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin of Roush Racing took the 2006 pole at Texas Motor Speedway in the Busch Grand National Series. Cup Series driver Jamie McMurray in the No. 1 Roush Fenway Racing car captured his third career pole and first on a road course in 2007 at Infineon Raceway.
Carl Edwards, accumulated over 50 pole wins while driving the Ford brand and in 2008 brought home another Sprint Cup Series pole at Bristol Motor Speedway for Ford and Roush Fenway Racing.
In 2009, Matt Kenseth of Roush Fenway Racing leveraged the horsepower of the Roush Yates Engines built Ford FR9 V8 race engine to secure the Texas Motor Speedway pole in the Nationwide Series.
Kasey Kahne and Richard Petty Motorsports would bring home the pole in Ford’s own backyard in Brooklyn, Michigan at the beloved Michigan International Speedway in 2010.
The 2011 and 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Champion, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. driver for Roush Fenway Racing captured one of his Nationwide poles at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Aric Almirola with Richard Petty Motorsports and the newly designed Ford FR9 EFI V8 race engine, won the 2012 Sprint Cup pole at NASCAR’s home track, Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Ford swept the front row at Chicagoland in 2013. Joey Logano, the No. 22 driver for Team Penske and Ford Performance kicked off the Chase by taking the pole at Chicagoland and teammate Brad Keselowski in the No. 2 completed the sweep of the front row.
2014 NASCAR Camping World Truck pole was captured by No. 21 Ryan Blaney driver for Brad Keselowski Racing at Michigan International Speedway.
In 2015, Brad Keselowski clinched the pole at a fan favorite track, Darlington Raceway. Darlington has become known as NASCAR’s Throwback event of the year.
This past June Roush Yates Engines won one of their most coveted road racing poles with Ford Performance and Ford Chip Ganassi Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship Series, at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France. The drivers of the No. 68 FCGR Ford GT race car; Joey Hand, Dirk Müller and Sébastien Bourdais took the pole position. They would go onto make history by winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans on the 50th Anniversary of Ford Motor Company’s first Le Mans win in 1966.
“Congratulations to all the previous and future pole winners,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “This is a humbling moment for the Roush Yates Engines’ team. We have created a company that continues to deliver world-class winning race engines each and every week. We share this achievement and commitment with Ford Performance and all the teams that race the Blue Oval.”
13 CHAMPIONSHIPS – 281 WINS – 250 POLES
Article courtesy Speedville.
