After Saturday crash, Sunday’s better for Hinchcliffe in Houston

By Oct 6, 2013, 7:30 PM EDT
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Normally a cheerful guy, James Hinchcliffe was anything but after he failed to get out of his grid spot and was then hit from behind by Ed Carpenter off the standing start of yesterday’s Race 1 of the Shell/Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston.

Hinchcliffe wouldn’t divulge what happened during the incident on Saturday, only noting that he knew what the issue had been. But following Sunday’s Race 2, he was back to his happy self after notching a podium finish – his first since winning at Iowa Speedway seven races ago – with a third-place run.

“I’m really glad this was a doubleheader and we had a chance to redeem ourselves,” Hinchcliffe said after his fourth podium of 2013. “Obviously, yesterday didn’t go – I’m not gonna say ‘not go quite as planned’, it didn’t go anything close to planned. It was a solid race.

“We started eighth, picked some guys off, some guys had problems, but at the end of the day, when we cleared some cars, we had decent pace – not quite up to the par of Scott [Dixon] or [race winner] Will [Power], who were the class of the field for sure, but when you’re keeping guys like Justin Wilson and Sebastien Bourdais behind you on a street circuit, you’re doing something right.”

Like many, however, his thoughts were with Dario Franchitti, who was taken to a local hospital after he was launched into the Turn 5 catch fence following contact with Takuma Sato during the final lap of today’s race.

When Hinchcliffe was asked to describe making his way through the aftermath of the incident at the end of the race, he said it was the biggest debris field he had seen in a crash since what he called “that race in 2011” – a seeming reference to the massive, 15-car incident that took the life of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two years ago.

“It’s never what you want to see,” Hinchcliffe said of Sunday’s crash. “You know how fast that part of the track is. It’s bumpy and we’ve come completely sideways over some of the bumps there.

“I don’t want to say it was a matter of time before somebody got it wrong – obviously, those were two guys racing side-by-side – but it’s almost not even hard to have a single-car wreck in that corner, which should be a pretty straightforward, flat-out piece of race track. It definitely keeps you on your toes, and to get that kind of speed, to launch into the air, it’s not what you want to see.”

Hinchcliffe then expressed his relief that Franchitti would be alright – and his own belief that the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner would “fight on.”

“He’s come back from worse, that’s for sure,” he said.

Ford unveils a new Mustang for 2024 Le Mans in motorsports ‘lifestyle brand’ retooling

Associated PressJun 9, 2023, 7:00 PM EDT
Ford Mustang Le Mans
Ford Performance
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LE MANS, France — Ford has planned a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans with its iconic Mustang muscle car next year under a massive rebranding of Ford Performance aimed at bringing the automotive manufacturer “into the racing business.”

The Friday unveil of the new Mustang Dark Horse-based race car follows Ford’s announcement in February (and a ballyhooed test at Sebring in March) that it will return to Formula One in 2026 in partnership with reigning world champion Red Bull.

The Mustang will enter the GT3 category next year with at least two cars in both IMSA and the World Endurance Championship, and is hopeful to earn an invitation to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The IMSA entries will be a factory Ford Performance program run by Multimatic, and a customer program in WEC with Proton Competition.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, also an amateur sports car racer, told The Associated Press the Mustang will be available to compete in various GT3 series across the globe to customer teams. But more important, Farley said, is the overall rebranding of Ford Performance – done by renowned motorsports designer Troy Lee – that is aimed at making Ford a lifestyle brand with a sporting mindset.

“It’s kind of like the company finding its own, and rediscovering its icons, and doubling down on them,” Farley told the AP. “And then this motorsports activity is getting serious about connecting enthusiast customers with those rediscovered icons. It’s a big switch for the company – this is really about building strong, iconic vehicles with enthusiasts at the center of our marketing.”

Ford last competed in sports car racing in 2019 as part of a three-year program with Chip Ganassi Racing. The team scored the class win at Le Mans in 2016 in a targeted performance aimed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ford snapping Ferrari’s six-year winning streak.

Ford on Friday displayed a Mustang with a Lee-designed livery that showcased the cleaner, simplified look that will soon be featured on all its racing vehicles. The traditional blue oval with Ford Performance in white lettering underneath will now be branded simply FP.

The new mark will be used across car liveries, merchandise and apparel, display assets, parts and accessories and in advertising.

Farley cited Porsche as an automaker that has successfully figured out how to sell cars to consumers and race cars in various series around the world while creating a culture of brand enthusiasts. He believes Ford’s new direction will help the company sell street cars, race cars, boost interest in driving schools, and create a merchandise line that convinces consumers that a stalwart of American automakers is a hip, cool brand.

“We’re going to build a global motorsports business off road and on road,” Farley told the AP, adding that the design of the Mustang is “unapologetically American.”

He lauded the work of Lee, who is considered the top helmet designer among race car drivers.

“We’re in the first inning of a nine inning game, and going to Le Mans is really important,” Farley said. “But for customer cars, getting the graphics right, designing race cars that win at all different levels, and then designing a racing brand for Ford Performance that gets rebranded and elevated is super important.”

He said he’s kept a close eye on how Porsche and Aston Martin have built their motorsports businesses and said Ford will be better.

“We’re going in the exact same direction. We just want to be better than them, that’s all,” Farley said. “Second is the first loser.”

Farley, an avid amateur racer himself, did not travel to Le Mans for the announcement. The race that begins Saturday features an entry from NASCAR, and Ford is the reigning Cup Series champion with Joey Logano and Team Penske.

The NASCAR “Garage 56” entry is a collaboration between Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear, and is being widely celebrated throughout the industry. Farley did feel left out of the party in France – a sentiment NASCAR tried to avoid by inviting many of its partners to attend the race so that it wouldn’t seem like a Chevrolet-only celebration.

“They’re going right and I’m going left – that NASCAR thing is a one-year deal, right? It’s Garage 56 and they can have their NASCAR party, but that’s a one-year party,” Farley said. “We won Le Mans outright four times, we won in the GT class, and we’re coming back with Mustang and it’s not a one-year deal.

“So they can get all excited about Garage 56. I almost see that as a marketing exercise for NASCAR, but for me, that’s a science project,” Farley continued. “I don’t live in a world of science projects. I live in the world of building a vital company that everyone is excited about. To do that, we’re not going to do a Garage 56 – I’ve got to beat Porsche and Aston Martin and Ferrari year after year after year.”

Ford’s announcement comes on the heels of General Motors changing its GT3 strategy next season and ending its factory Corvette program. GM, which unlike Ford competes in the IMSA Grand Touring Prototype division (with its Cadillac brand), will shift fully to a customer model for Corvettes in 2024 (with some factory support in the IMSA GTD Pro category).