Wilson, Newgarden make big leaps from qualifying to race in St. Petersburg

By Mar 31, 2014, 3:00 PM EDT
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Top movers on Sunday in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg were Justin Wilson of Dale Coyne Racing and Josef Newgarden of Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing. The pair ended in eighth and ninth in the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series opener.

For both of them though, they probably wished they had qualified a little better.

Wilson started only 16th in the No. 19 Boy Scouts of America Honda but made strides in setup in the Sunday morning warmup, ending in eighth after adjustments working with new engineer Michael Cannon.

A methodical move forward saw Wilson eventually end in the same position for the race, but with some greater heights on the running order during pit stop cycles thanks to an off-sequence strategy.

“We made some big improvements in the warm up this morning and I really felt we had a strong car to get after it,” said the English gentle giant also known as “Bad ass.” “The Dale Coyne Racing guys did a great job giving me the clear track early on because the car was fast.

“I was just hoping to get a bit more of a clear track! It seemed really difficult to get by people today,” he added. “With the alternate strategy, we were running hard in clean air and I was just trying to make the most of it. At one stage I was managing fuel, managing tires and managing the brakes, as well as trying to run as fast as I could! So it was a tough balancing act trying not to use up too much of the car early on.”

Wilson tweeted Monday that it was a tough race, but he did quite well.

Newgarden started 22nd and stone last on the field but went into stealth mode during the race. Like Wilson, Newgarden was in his first race with a new engineer in Jeremy Milless.

The Tennessee native told me earlier in the week that he’s a major superhero junkie, and on this occasion the No. 67 Florida Lottery Honda appeared like the Flash – he was a stealth fighter with an invisibility cloak.

He made moves through the field although many weren’t caught on TV. Near the end of the race, he had an opportunity to catch Wilson but was unable to get past due in part to Wilson’s excellent corner exit from the final turn, Turn 14.

“We started really buried in the field. Starting 22nd is not ideal and we had a really tough go on Saturday,” said the third-year driver. “That just put us on the back foot for the race. What we need to do is qualify better and have a better weekend as a whole. We kept fighting; there are a lot of fighters on this team who never give up. We scored a top-10 finish, which is wonderful.”

Wilson’s Coyne teammate, rookie Carlos Huertas, accomplished his main goal of finishing the race. To be honest, the Colombian was one of the drivers that impressed me the most this weekend – he was not out of his depth on track, he kept the car in one piece and was reasonably close to the field considering a substantial lack of testing time.

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).