Hand, Mueller Reunion “Perfect Scenario” for GTD Pro Effort

Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller view resuming their fruitful partnership as co-drivers as part of Ford Performance’s flagship GTD Pro lineup for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as a “no brainer.”

Hand and Mueller will share a Ford Mustang GT3 for the full WeatherTech Championship campaign in 2024, which kicks off with the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.

It marks the resumption of a partnership dating back to 2010, when the two drivers became teammates at BMW in the American Le Mans Series and went on to finish third in the GTE-Pro class in that year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

They then shared the cockpit of the Ford GT en route to five WeatherTech Championship wins, while most notably teaming with Sebastien Bourdais to win the GTE-Pro class upon Ford’s return to Le Mans in 2016.

While Hand remained tied to Ford through appearances in NASCAR, Mueller was contracted to Multimatic, which will run the factory GTD Pro operation.

Hand was buoyed at the prospect of reuniting with his longtime teammate, calling it the “perfect scenario.”

“When the Ford GT thing ended, we didn’t know about this, but you always hope,” said Hand.

“Dirk, he’s been around Multimatic a lot, doing a lot of stuff. I’ve been connected with Ford, doing a lot of stuff in the NASCAR world.

“So I expected it. I was definitely hoping, expecting. In the past year or so, as we knew it was coming, it definitely made me happy. I was pretty sure I could be involved in it, doing a lot of testing stuff.

“For him and I to be back together, I mean, it’s the perfect scenario. Like they didn’t even have to ask who I would want. They literally never said like, ‘You and Dirk go together.’

“They knew we didn’t need to ask that. That’s the kind of relationship we have. Everybody knew.

Hand and Mueller both said that the close bond forged between the two drivers over the past decade is a result of their friendship off-track, while Mueller also points to their similar demands during a weekend as a key to their success.

“It has to do with everything,” said Hand. “It has to do with being able to talk to each other outside of racing, understand each other.

“We both have families, we have kids the same age, they’re doing the same kind of stuff. We both like Mexican food. We like the car very similar, it’s a pretty easy, no brainer.”

Mueller added: “We really know each other so well that we know what Joey needs [and] what I need in order to make the car win the race.

“Sometimes you say that, and it’s not really the case, because there’s always one guy [who’s] the faster one. But here you will see over the years,  it’s just when Joey is qualifying the weekend, he’s getting more time.

“When I’m doing the qualifying, I’m getting more time. This is how you build up the way to try to win the championship.

“But at the same time, the competition is super strong. Don’t forget [the] second car [with] Harry [Tincknell], Rocky, it’s going to be a very strong lineup. I can’t really wait to get it all started.”

Despite their lengthy combined careers, the two drivers have relatively little experience in current-generation GT3 machinery.

Outside of a one-off appearance with Meyer Shank Racing in the 2020 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring at the wheel of an Acura NSX GT3 Evo, Hand largely raced in the NASCAR Cup Series as well as the Michelin Pilot Challenge in recent years.

Mueller, meanwhile, drove a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in four WeatherTech Championship races in 2022 with Proton Competition and Team Korthoff Motorsports.

“I [got to] know the GT3 world a tiny bit more over the last years,” said Mueller. “I know the level of drivers, the level of teams, the level of cars is really intense.

“Nobody is thinking that it’s going to be super easy. It’s going to be super tough. Everything has to be spot on from the beginning till the end. And we definitely need to be on our toes.

“But that’s why it’s so important to really know and understand GT3 is tough. It’s really not easy to be up there. But, like I said, we know what we need to have and we will bring it on the table next year.”

John Dagys contributed to this report