Rockenfeller: Mustang’s “Strong” Long-Run Pace Key to Victory

Photo: Wes Duenkel/Ford

Mike Rockenfeller said the “strong” long-run pace of his and Seb Priaulx’s Ford Mustang GT3 was key to GTD Pro class victory in Sunday’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Rockenfeller and Priaulx claimed their second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship class victory, and third of the season for Ford Multimatic Motorsports, in a hard-fought six-hour contest that ultimately went the way of the No. 64 car.

While starting seventh in the 11-car field, Rockenfeller vaulted to second in class after the factory squad elected to keep him on track during the race’s second full-course caution.

The veteran German driver made it to the class lead by Lap 51 and remained in contention for the remainder of the race, amid a battle with the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R and both Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVOs.

“It was a tough fight,” said Rockenfeller. “I think almost everybody was in the lead for a while. But we were, I would say, strong over a long run.

“I think that was our strength. We could see that in free practice already.

“In qually, we had some mistakes on the setup, which we found after, and that happens, and the balance was off.

“We were more in the back than we should have been, but our sister car showed great pace. They were P2 on the grid and we weren’t.

“Starting from P7 you have to race clean and make your passes and smart moves.

“It’s a long race, a lot of stuff happens, and you have to be a bit lucky. Then we got a penalty.

“We were again in the back and then it was just full push to the front.

“I think you have to have the pace, right, and like I say, it’s important to be consistent over a stint, and I think that was the strength of our car today.”

Priaulx ultimately made the class-winning move on the AO Porsche of Laurin Heinrich with less than 40 minutes to go, initially getting aside his former co-driver through Turns 2 and 3 before completing the pass on the exit of Turn 4.

“I just want to say thanks to IMSA for making it more cleaner racing,” said Priaulx, who scored his first Endurance Cup win. “That’s made a lot of help for us to actually race cleanly and actually it’s more fun I would say.

“It was a nice pass. I felt like I executed a perfect move there, and he went wide, and that was it really.

“It was the move for the win. It was easy to get stuck behind there. You need to be assertive, and I was, and just had to get it done. So yeah, happy with that.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John