Keating Motorsports Ford GT Wins GTE AM
Class at 24 Hours of Le Mans
Overcomes late race drama for first Le
Mans win
IMSA Wire Service
Team Owner / Driver Ben Keating is no stranger to Winners Circle, but
2019 LeMans is his first
Wynner, Wynner Chicken Dinner !
June 16, 2019 11:55 AM -- Texas car dealer Ben Keating and his team have
shown prowess in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship endurance races
over the past several years.
Keating and his longtime full-season co-driver Jeroen Bleekemolen won both
the 2017 and 2018 IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup in the GT Daytona (GTD)
class. In fact, Keating’s overall performance in the 2018 WeatherTech
Championship earned him the Bob Akin Award as the top sportsman driver in
the GTD class, which comes with an automatic invitation from IMSA to the
following year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Wynns Sponsored Ford GT takes the Checkers after a dominant
performance at Le Mans
Keating and his team made the most of that invitation, winning the GTE Am
class in this weekend’s twice-around-the-clock race. The No. 85 Keating
Motorsports Ford GT shared by Keating, Bleekemolen and Brazilian racer
Felipe Fraga dominated much of the 24 hours in GTE Am, but a late penalty
on pit road tightened up the race considerably for the final hour.
However, Bleekemolen was able to pull away after taking over on the final
pit stop of the race, crossing the stripe 44.943 seconds ahead of Joerg
Bergmeister in the No. 56 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR he co-drove with
IMSA regular Patrick Lindsey and Egidio Perfetti.
It was Keating’s first Le Mans victory, adding to an endurance racing
crown jewel trophy case that already includes the Rolex 24 At Daytona
(2015), Motul Petit Le Mans (2016) and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring
(2017).
“We stuck to our strategy and kept it clean for the most part,” Keating
told Radio Le Mans. “We’re so grateful to be here.”
It was Bleekemolen’s second victory at Le Mans, following a 2008 LMP2
class victory. This was the team’s first race with the No. 85 Ford GT – in
fact, it was the first time a privateer team fielded a Ford GT at Le Mans.
Keating, Bleekemolen and Fraga will be back in the familiar No. 33
Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 in two weeks for the
WeatherTech Championship Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on June 30.
The top four teams in GTE Am had strong IMSA ties. Runner-up Lindsey’s
Park Place Motorsports team competes full time in the WeatherTech
Championship, fielding the No. 73 Porsche 911 GT3 R. Jeff Segal, who
helped the No. 84 JMW Motorsport Ferrari team to a third-place finish, won
GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series GT championships in 2010 and 2012, and
the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge title in 2007. He’s also a winner at
Daytona and Sebring.
Finishing fourth was the No. 62 WeatherTech Racing Ferrari 488 GTE shared
by Cooper MacNeil, Toni Vilander and Robert Smith. MacNeil and Vilander
are full-time competitors in the WeatherTech Championship, sharing the No.
63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3.
Four of the top six teams in GTE Pro included full-time WeatherTech
Championship competitors. The highest finisher was the U.S.-based No. 93
Porsche GT Team 911 RSR squad and drivers Nick Tandy, Patrick Pilet and
Earl Bamber, who finished third in class.
None of the Chip Ganassi Ford entries got to the podium in the final
year of the Ford factory teams at LeMans, thus preserving the 1960s
dominance of the Henry Ford, Carroll Shelby and later John Weyer wins,
four years in a row.
Joey Hand, Dirk Mueller and Sebastien Bourdais finished fourth in the No.
68 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Team USA Ford GT, ahead of the No. 67 Ford
Chip Ganassi Team UK entry, which included full-time Mazda Team Joest No.
55 RT24-P DPi co-drivers Harry Tincknell and Jonathan Bomarito. The second
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Team USA Ford GT shared by Richard Westbrook,
Ryan Briscoe and Scott Dixon finished sixth in GTE Pro.
The No. 63 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R co-driven by two-time
and defending WeatherTech Championship GTLM champions Jan Magnussen and
Antonio Garcia and their endurance teammate, Mike Rockenfeller, was in
contention for the GTE Pro victory before some unfortunate events with
three and a half hours remaining.
The team pitted under a safety car period and lost significant track
position to the race-leading No. 51 Ferrari as Magnussen was held at the
pit exit until the next safety car passed. Just after the ensuing restart,
Magnussen spun and contacted the barrier in the Porsche Curves, forcing
him back to the garage for repairs. The No. 63 ended up ninth in class.
The overall victory in the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans went to the No. 8
Toyota LMP1 machine in a driver lineup that included two-time Formula 1
World Champion Fernando Alonso, who became the first driver since Mike
Rockenfeller to take overall victories in both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and
the Rolex 24 At Daytona in the same year.
Alonso co-drove the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R to the Rolex 24
win in January with Jordan Taylor, Renger van der Zande and Kamui
Kobayashi. It was Alonso’s second consecutive overall victory at Le Mans.
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