Ford Racing on how they secured the "winning strategy" at Laguna Seca despite setbacks

It also became the first EVO-spec win for the Ford Mustang GT3 in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

“I think it proves that the EVO is really a great step in the right direction,” Vervisch said. “And yeah, never thought we could win here because we always considered this track as our worst track for the Ford Mustang since the beginning. So that's really cool.”

Vervisch also mentioned that while running in fifth, he wasn’t immediately aware of those ahead of him being put into a fuel-save mode would be able to make it to the end or not.

“We knew that they were fuel saving and hoping for yellow,” Vervisch said. “I think about 17 minutes before the end of the race we understood that they would have to pit for fuel. But, yeah, I still saw them driving, so you're still waiting until they effectively go in the pit lane. And then I saw it, so that was a nice feeling.”

Mies, who qualified the car third in class and was in the car during the opening stint tire puncture, was elated with the finish after a rough start to the year with results of seventh and eighth in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, respectively.

“Yeah, we had a tough start to the season,” Mies said. “Daytona and Sebring were obviously difficult. We brought the Evo package for this year, so it finally paid off. I mean, last year we got lapped here by pure pace with a pre-Evo car, so we were actually a bit afraid that something similar would happen again, but obviously the Evo package did its job.

“And yeah, I'm just happy that after, I would say, a good start to the last season, but then, as most of the time, quite difficult learning tracks and how we race in it, that we finally have a good result for the team. The car has been good, yesterday in qualifying already and all practice sessions. I'm happy for everyone at Ford and Multimatic for that win.

“And I think from here we can fight now for the championship.”

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