Friday notebook: Start time moved for MAVTV 500 and more

By Oct 18, 2013, 10:30 PM EDT
0 Comments

A few news and notes will follow below from the first day of on-track activity here at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. – site of the MAVTV 500 IZOD IndyCar Series season finale (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, NBC Sports Live Extra).

  • Start time officially moved to 6:10 p.m. Purely for safety reasons, the start time of tomorrow’s race has been moved back 20 minutes from 5:50 to 6:10 p.m. PT and local time (9:10 p.m. ET). TV coverage will still start on NBCSN at 8 p.m. ET. The reason for the change is that the glare from the sunset entering Turns 3 and 4 is directly in the drivers’ eyes. Helio Castroneves addressed this concern in a recent teleconference.
  • Miles, Zucker hold presser. Hulman & Co. CEO Mark Miles, head of INDYCAR’s parent company, and Auto Club Speedway president Gillian Zucker held a press conference earlier today to go over the just-announced 2014 IndyCar schedule and also ACS’ role in it. Likely, an even later start than the 6:10 p.m. time this year will be necessary for next year’s race. A handful of quotes from these two will follow in a further post on Saturday.
  • Vautier named ROTY. Tristan Vautier was officially awarded the SUNOCO Rookie-of-the-Year honors Friday afternoon before the final practice of the day at ACS. But, as the Frenchman joked during the press conference, “Not my biggest (award),” since he had no full-time rivals this year. The Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver said the biggest change to adjust to in the jump from Indy Lights was race length, and he said if all goes to plan he’ll be back with the team in 2014.
  • Fuzzy’s has $250,000 on the line. If we didn’t touch on it earlier this week, we’ll mention it now. Fuzzy’s Vodka has $250,000 on offer if either Tony Kanaan or Scott Dixon wins Saturday night; that will make it two out of three for them in the Fuzzy’s Triple Crown. A $1 million bonus was available had Kanaan – or anyone else who won the Indianapolis 500 – swept all three races at Indy, Pocono and Fontana.
  • Veach takes Indy Lights pole. Zach Veach secured his first career Firestone Indy Lights pole in qualifying for tomorrow’s Lucky’s Kids Club 100. Teammate Carlos Munoz was second, with title contenders Gabby Chaves third and Sage Karam seventh. Karam, though, will start from the rear of the nine-car field after an engine change.
  • Hello, goodbye. We’ll touch on this more tomorrow as well, but the season finale means some hellos and more goodbyes. It is definitely the last race for Kanaan (KV Racing Technology-SH, pictured) and Sebastien Bourdais (Dragon Racing) at their respective teams. It is the possible last race for more than a handful of others at theirs. Meanwhile back in the saddle this weekend after missing Houston are: AJ Allmendinger, Carlos Munoz, Alex Tagliani, Pippa Mann and JR Hildebrand.

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
2 Comments

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).