Dakar: Roma back on form with Stage 9 win; Al-Attiyah pushes overall lead to 24 minutes

By Jan 13, 2015, 7:26 PM EST
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Things are finally normal again for Nani Roma.

The reigning Dakar Rally champion had his title defense effectively end on the first stage after mechanical problems cost him almost seven and a half hours.

A 34th-place finish in Stage 2 followed, but since then, the Spaniard and co-driver Michel Perin have gotten back to business with podium finishes in Stage 4 and Stage 6.

But they had not yet gotten back to the top step. Until Tuesday.

Roma pulled away from fellow Mini driver and current overall leader Nasser Al-Attiyah late in the 450km run from Iquique to Calama, Chile, and secured his first stage win of the 2015 Dakar by six minutes, 27 seconds over the Qatari.

“This win is for my guys and the team,” Roma said in a Mini release afterwards. “They did a great job. Today, we finally experienced a trouble-free day and didn’t encounter the slightest problem. And Michel once again delivered in sensational style.”

Al-Attiyah isn’t likely brooding over his Tuesday loss to Roma, however. That’s because his main rival for this year’s Dakar title, Toyota’s Giniel de Villiers, was victimized by a navigational error that cost him a precious 15 minutes.

The South African still maintains second in the overall standings, but what had been an eight and a half minute lead deficit to Al-Attiyah has now ballooned to just under 24 minutes because of the mistake.

Afterwards, de Villiers said that barring a mistake from Al-Attiyah, his bid to win the Dakar had been scuttled.

” Obviously, that’s cost us the race, so we’re sure now that we can only try to consolidate something on the podium,” he said. “But the race is over for us, so, you know, sometimes it goes like this in the Dakar and there’s nothing you can do about it.

“There was one place where we were really struggling to find the way point. I mean, obviously it was an off-road area, the wind was from behind and there was so much fesh-fesh and dust. We just kept turning around. We spent I don’t know how long there, but it felt like forever to find the way point.

“It’s not impossible for Nasser to make a mistake but with the lead he has now, he can take it really easy…It was our mistake and we have to pay.”

Finishing third on Tuesday was Russia’s Vladimir Vasilyev (+ 15:52) in a nice follow-up to his surprise win in Stage 5. de Villiers was a highly disappointed fourth (+ 21:58), and Stage 8 winner Yazeed Alrajhi finished fifth (+ 27:16) despite losing his brakes at the 200 kilometer mark and having to obviously go slower as a result of that.

Alrajhi, the Saudi rookie, still holds third place overall but lost more than 20 minutes to Al-Attiyah. He’s now 39 minutes, 29 seconds behind him.

As for American driver Robby Gordon, he took his Gordini to an eighth-place finish (+ 35:59). He and co-driver Johnny Campbell have now cracked the Top 20 overall, a nice recovery from being just inside the Top 50 after their ill-fated Stage 2.

NBCSN’s coverage of the Dakar Rally continues with Stage 9 highlights tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. ET.

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2015 Dakar Rally – Overall Standings, Cars
(After Stage 9 – Iquique to Calama)

1. 301-Nasser Al-Attiyah (Mini), 31hrs, 29mins, 38secs
2. 303-Giniel de Villiers (Toyota), + 23mins, 58secs
3. 325-Yazeed Alrajhi (Toyota), + 39mins, 29secs
4. 307-Krzysztof Holowczyc (Mini), + 1hr, 17mins, 41secs
5. 314-Erik Van Loon (Mini), + 2hrs, 41mins, 46secs (40mins penalty in Stage 9)
6. 309-Christian Lavieille (Toyota), + 2hrs, 51mins, 39secs
7. 310-Vladimir Vasilyev (Mini), + 3hrs, 2mins, 41secs
8. 306-Carlos Sousa (Mitsubishi), + 3hrs, 33mins, 35secs (40mins penalty in Stage 9)
9. 315-Bernhard Ten Brinke (Toyota), + 3hrs, 34mins, 7secs
10. 329-Aidyn Rakhimbayev (Mini), + 3hrs, 41mins, 24secs
20. 308-Robby Gordon (Gordini), + 7hrs, 22mins, 53secs

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).