Joey Hand Up Close and Personal At Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

Joey Hand prior to the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix weekend.  Image Credit: 2015 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images

Getting to Know Joey Hand At Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca  
Interview By: Brandon O'Brien for Performance & Racing Tech Talk (PRTT)
Photography By: Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images unless otherwise specified

Prior to the start of the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix weekend we had an opportunity to have an interview with Daytona Prototype Driver Joey Hand.  Well known for his driving skills and prowess in both the American Le Mans Series driving for BMW Team RLL and also for Chip Ganassi Racing in the Riley-BMW prototype in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.

As a reward for winning the GT drivers championship in 2011 BMW presented him with a full-time ride as one of the BMW factory drivers in the prestigious DTM series in Europe.  After three years of flying between Sacramento and Europe, Hand is now back here full-time driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, now with Ford, for the 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship aboard the Ford EcoBoost Riley Daytona Prototype.

PRTT: "Joey, how did your DTM experience prepare you for driving the new Chip Ganassi Ford EcoBoost Riley prototype car?"

JH: "I've done the Daytona prototype before.  In 2008 I drove for Alex Job Racing in the Ruby Tuesday car so I had some DP experience and I drove with the team of Chip Ganassi Racing since 2011, once a year, at Daytona."

"Since I've last driven a DP car they have put a good bit more down force on them and that is what the DTM car is all about is down force. We have so much down force in those cars and not as much horsepower so it is all about driving the corners and keeping the car at a high speed in the high speed corners."

"There were things to learn there but it is quite a bit different car. The DTM car is very stiff and they really only think about down force and how to make more down force. Whereas the Prototype car, especially the Daytona Prototype, we are maybe a cross between a GT car and a DTM car because we sit low, have a decent bit of down force, and a good bit of roll too, more towards the way of a GT car. I think everything I've done in my career has made me pretty versatile. I've driven a lot of stuff from Sprint Cars, Midgets, Stock Cars and Indy Cars.  DTM was just one more thing to put into the experience bank.  I learned a lot there."

PRTT: "Speaking of DTM, European drivers appear to have a different type of mentality or philosophy. How did it differ from your American philosophy and travel?"

JH: "From the travel standpoint I decided to stay at home because I have a wife and two little kids.  I did not want to do the whole move to Europe thing. It just wasn't for me so I decided to travel back and forth from California. I spent a lot of time traveling. It was hard after three years. For the first year-and-a-half  it was fun, it was different with new places all the time but the third year really wore me out. So that was one of the reasons I wanted to come back to the U.S. and do American racing."

"The racing is a different type of racing altogether. The cars and teams, it's a step below F1.  It's F1 with a body and the mentality is the same. The level of the drivers is similar to what we have here in the states. You just needed to figure out how to race there because it is only an hour and ten minute race.  I came from endurance racing where you only raced in the last hour and ten minutes but it might have been a 12-hour race."

Joey Hand driving the 2014 BMW M4-DTM  at Hockenheim-Ring, Germany.  Image Credit: 2014 Stefan Brending / Wikimedia Commons

"You have to get into the mentality of when the red lights go off you were 'Go-Go-Go'!  It was like a qualifying run for an hour and ten minutes.  Any time loss, 1/10 sec, 2/10 sec, 1 second you really never saw it again. You either had to race back to it and but there were not a lot of full-course yellows, not a lot of safety cars, so you had to get that mentality. It took me a good year, almost two years, just to learn how to race there."

"From the racing standpoint you still drive the car to the limit and you drive as hard as you can. You just have to be careful. Everyone sees the contact in DTM  and oh it's fun to see the contact.  The contact makes for a good show but in DTM we have so many widgets and stuff on the outside of the car for aero that once you knock one of those off you lost  4 to 5/10 a lap and you just couldn't race any more.  There was a fine line   of contact or having a car to finish the race. It just took some time to figure all of this out."

"Unfortunately I did not have any really big results there but I was on par many times to have some big results just to have something go wrong, caught a yellow wrong, or whatever it was.  I think my best finish was fourth and I qualified 3rd or 4th. I'm kind of proud that I did it. I'm the only American to contest the full season. So, at this point, I'm the best finishing American and the best qualifying American, until somebody else goes over there."

PRTT: "In BMW your team mate was Bill Auberlan who is one of the most successful sports car drivers and now you are co-driving with Scott Pruett who is just a few races ahead of Bill in podium finishes.  What is it like racing with Scott?"

JH: "First off, I've been very fortunate in my days in sports car racing to be teamed up with the best in the world. When I first came to sports car racing it was with BMW and my teammates were Boris Said, Hans Stuck, and Bill Auberlan.  I had so much knowledge to go off of and in the first years I was directly teamed with Boris Said. The past 7-8 years I spent driving with Bill Auberlan and learned a lot from that guy, I mean, he is really good at winning races and there is always something to learn from people.  My goal is to chase both of these guys down, Bill Auberlan and Scott Pruitt."

"Now to be teammates with Scott Pruett, Holy-cow, I mean he has tons of experience. We both grew up in Sacramento and we both still live in the area.  We both came from karting and we both came from what we call, the hard way. We did it on our own and  raced our way to the top. I have a ton of respect for Scott and I'm happy to be with a guy that I can learn from again.  Like I teach kids in karting and even formula cars you need to learn every day.  There is always something to learn. You are not as good as you think you are. You have to keep that same mentality even when you are driving for Chip Ganassi. There is always somebody that could possibly be better than you or is better than you. When you are lucky enough to be driving with someone that you can gain knowledge from you need to suck it in.  I never know how long I will able to drive with Scott Pruitt. I want to get as much dollar from him as possible. Ultimately, I want to go after those win records. I'm 20 years the younger of Scott and I feel that I have 20 years to go after that record. So that is my goal."

"I've just been really lucky, fortunate to be with these great guys. Not just great guys but great teams. I've spent time with Tom Milners' team and  PTG,  Bobby Rahals' Team, and great teams in Europe and now with Chip Ganassi Racing.  I've stood at this race at Laguna Seca, I came here every year for the Indy car races ever since I could drive and I always wanted to drive those red Target cars that Jimmy Vassar, Alex Zenardi, or Montoya were driving.  When I got the chance to do that in 2011 I thought that this was awesome and when we won the race Chip said, 'You can drive any of my cars anytime', and I said, 'I'm going to take you up on that.' And here it has come around and I get to drive for Chip Ganassi. For me I have been lucky and have in the right place at the right time and have been able to capitalize on the opportunities."

Front view of the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Ford EcoBoost Riley DP as seen at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.  Image Credit: 2015 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images

PRTT: "The Ford EcoBoost, except for Daytona, has not always been the front runner. Two weeks ago at Long Beach you were second and I know that you were pushing but it seemed like there was nothing you could do to get around the Taylor's Corvette DP."

JH:  "Well, I'm new to the team and so it is my first year driving for Ford and my first year driving a turbo motor and they have done a really good job with the engine to get the drive ability good, to make the turbo's work good to have the horsepower.  I think the biggest thing for us is that we definitely don't have the most horsepower on the race track. More than anything I think we don't have the aerodynamics of anybody and it seems that the P2 cars on an aero track are going to be very quick.  The Corvette DP cars definitely have more aerodynamics than us and a little more torque to go with it.  From the BOP (Balance of Performance) standpoint we are off a bit .We are the only car of our make, we are the only Ford Riley DP we really stand alone and we can only judge off of us.  At Long Beach we got what we could.  We were not the quickest car and second place out of it and that was one of our better races. I think Detroit will be stronger because it is not a high down-force situation.  I think here at Laguna that this could be a tough one for us just judging off what we have seen so far.  At Sebring we were 8th quick in qualifying and we lost most of the time in the high speed corners and here at Laguna clearly we have a lot of high speed corners. Six out of eleven corners are medium to high speed and there is not a lot of straightaway for us to make it up.  For us to get it this weekend we will have to be better in every other aspect which is normally the deal with Chip Ganassi Racing, strategy, keeping the car under us and getting the best of what we got is going to be the name of the game for us. I hope I'm wrong but this will be a tough track for us to be as quick as the other cars".
ENDS

The No. 01 Chip Ganassi Ford EcoBoost Riley DP as seen at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.  Image Credit: 2015 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images

Although the Scott Pruett/Joey Hand No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford EcoBoost Riley DP qualified second,  the team finished in seventh place. That finish could have been better if it had not been for a gearbox problem causing Joey to spend a good amount of time in the pits costing them about 9 laps.



TAGS: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix, DTM, Joey Hand, Scott Pruett, Bill Auberlan, Chip Ganassi Racing, Ford, Ford EcoBoost, Riley DP, Brandon O'Brien