Shelby GT350R-C Wins the IMSA continental championship...video included

[5.0 435]

Great news for team Multimatic winning the IMSA Continental championship today @ Road Atlanta. Billy Johnson drove from behind today to win the championship for Ford. I've seen this guy over the years @ Daytona drive the wheels off anything they put him in. 6 wins for the season. :cheers:congrats :ford:

DOMINANT SEASON LANDS IMSA SPORTS CAR CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE FOR BILLY JOHNSON, SCOTT MAXWELL AND FORD SHELBY GT350R-C

• Ford Shelby GT350R-C earns six race wins and six poles en route to its first racing championship, thanks to a dominant performance by drivers Billy Johnson and Scott Maxwell and team Multimatic
  
• The team clinched three Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge titles on Friday – the drivers,’ team and manufacturers’ championships
  
• Ford executives will accept the manufacturers trophy at the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge banquet after the race

BRASELTON, Ga., Sept. 30, 2016 – Ford Shelby GT350R-C earned its first championship title in its first full year of competition, thanks to a dominant season from Multimatic Motorsports in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge this year.

Drivers Billy Johnson and Scott Maxwell ran the table at the final race weekend, the Road Atlanta 150, earning their sixth win in their No. 15 white Ford Shelby GT350R-C after starting on pole for the sixth time. With that win, they clinched the manufacturers’ championship for Ford as well.

The Ford Shelby GT350R-C was an immediate success when it debuted on pole at its first race in 2015, then went on to win two races in its first partial season. The domination continued this year.

“We’re very pleased with how the Shelby GT350R-C has performed on the track since its debut,” said Dave Pericak, global director, Ford Performance. “It’s just another proof point where we have used the race track as a laboratory to help develop an outstanding performance car for the street. Congratulations to Scott, Billy, Multimatic and the whole Ford Performance team on their efforts this year.”

Maxwell put the No. 15 on pole on Thursday in competition that was separated by only tenths of a second. It’s their first championship title together for the Toronto-based team, and Johnson’s first ever in Continental Tire competition.

“It was the longest 45 minutes of my life,” said Maxwell, who had to complete a minimum drive time of 45 minutes to earn his half of the drivers’ championship. “The car was fine, it was just trying to go around and not get involved in any trouble.”

“With Scott Maxwell and Billy Johnson in a Ford Shelby GT350R-C, my sheepdog could’ve run that race and won it,” said Multimatic’s Larry Holt with a laugh. “That’s not to say anything about the competition. The competition in this series is fantastic and we had to fight for every win this year. It’s just Scott and Billy are so good and that car is so good. It was an unbelievable year. Every single piece of this team is good, from the car to the partnership with Ford and we’re excited to see what next year brings.”

https://media.ford.com/content/ford...sa-sports-car-championship-title-for-bil.html

[ame]

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[RedRiot]

Congrats to the multimatic team. :cheers:


this was easily most anticlimactic IMSA CTSC GS season to watch with the class being comprised of only 2 cars: gt350 and gt4

 

[FPCV8YO]

:ford:

 

[5.0 435]

Ford GT on the poll @ Road Atlanta today ......with Westy in charge. They have a long shot @ the championship.

 

[5.0 435]

The Ford GT is @ Road Atlanta today. Check your listings for the TV coverage.


Watch the video of the Ford GT practice @ Road Atlanta. Above.

 

[5.0 435]

[ame]
youtube on the Shelby GT 350 championship win. Click on.

 

[thePill]

The GT350 successfully drove the other cars into extinction. GS record 6 Wins and 6 poles against THE greatest competition even in IMSA. The Porsche GT4.

 

[Stuntman]

Not bad when the GT4 Caymans made up over half the field and had a vastly superior BOP.

 

[WhiteyDog]

This is awesome. Unless I missed it, how many races were there total for the year? I saw that they won six of them.

 

[thePill]

This is awesome. Unless I missed it, how many races were there total for the year? I saw that they won six of them.

10 Races were on the schedule in 2016.

For the 2017 season, the GS class will begin to transform into GT4. So far, 10 races are scheduled again and 2 of the races are 4 hour endurance events instead of the 2:30. All the changes will go into effect no later than the 2018 season next year.

I believe 22 manufactuers have expressed interest and will need to homologate by 1 Jan 2017 for this season.

So far it's Ford, Aston, Porsche, BMW and Nissan will carry over from GS. Nissan, Caddy, Chevy, Toyota, Honda, Dodge and a whole bunch of other manufacturers are throwing their hat in.

GS was a 400rwhp class until the 2014 z28 was waivered in. The 5th Gen Camaro absolutely needed a 7 liter, 65 inch track and a huge weight allowance to compete. At that point, Ford had enough and built a GT350. While the z28 went unrestricted for 1/2 a season in 2014, they eventually balanced it out with a 60mm tube.

The GT350 broke a lot of records this season in GS and IMSA is primarily using the GT350 and Porsche GT4 as the benchmark for the GT4 class.

As important as this class is becoming, Chevy will likely use the Corvette to compete in GT4. A Grand Sport C7 is a better option against the GT350.

I think SCCA is going to a Power to Weight ratio like NASA.

 

[snaproll]

Thanks for spoiling it

 

[Gatorac]

OK, it's the end of the season and all. I, as well as many others, really appreciate your passion for sports car racing. I really mean it. But for the love of god will you stop posting spoilers in your thread titles next year? Please? A very large percentage of sports car racing fans watch these races from the DVR.

Just make your thread title something like "Conti Race Results Inside".

Thank you so much from a fellow sports car racing and Mustang fan.

 

[Stuntman]

Do you guys who are upset with the spoilers in the title completely avoid social media and the rest of the internet beyond this forum?

The web is covered with this spoiler, from Facebook to Twitter, Instagram, Ford's website, etc... I don't understand the point of being upset. You can always watch the races live on IMSA.com

 

[Rogue]

How could you NOT know the GT350R won CTSC Championship? It's been posted all over the place...and Congrats Ford!

 

[Gatorac]

Do you guys who are upset with the spoilers in the title completely avoid social media and the rest of the internet beyond this forum?

The web is covered with this spoiler, from Facebook to Twitter, Instagram, Ford's website, etc... I don't understand the point of being upset. You can always watch the races live on IMSA.com

This is the only site that has spoiled almost every Conti race this year for me. Haven't been anyplace else and seen results prior to watching a race.

If I had the time to watch each race live I wouldn't own a DVR. I record almost every sports car race on TV to watch if and when i can. Conti races are one of my favorites. I really can appreciate the OP's passion. I stood in the rain at Petit last year to watch the entire Conti race live from Spectator hill (Turn 5).

It's really not that difficult. "Conti Race Results and Discussion Inside" thread title and everyone wins.:cheers::first:

Maybe next year I will also learn to not use the "New Posts" button. But even then if it's the first post in the GT350 section is still shows up on the main forum page.

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