Olsbergs MSE confirms multiple car Ford effort in Red Bull GRC

By Apr 13, 2015, 9:08 AM EDT
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Olsbergs MSE has confirmed four cars split between Red Bull Global Rallycross and GRC Lites. In Red Bull GRC, defending champion Joni Wiman will return for another year while GRC Lites champion Mitchell DeJong moves up to the team’s second Ford Fiesta ST.

American Austin Cindric and Swede Oliver Eriksson, who will also race a Lites car at home in the RallyX Scandinavia series, have been confirmed to the team’s GRC Lites squad.

A video of the team announcement is linked here. More information is below from Olsbergs MSE’s official release:

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Defending champions Olsbergs MSE today announce their return to the worldwide rallycross stage with a full roster of drivers preparing for an international, multi-championship campaign. The team finished atop the podium in both the FIA World Rallycross Championship and the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship last season and is again aiming for global dominance.

“We have the best young talents in the world driving for OMSE this season,” said team owner Andreas Eriksson. “Our philosophy is to promote drivers through the ranks and support them with the best equipment. Our lineup shows a huge amount of potential in 2015.”

In Red Bull Global Rallycross, defending champion Joni Wiman returns to the team in the Red Bull / Bluebeam Ford Fiesta ST, this year joined by Supercars newcomer Mitchell DeJong in the Red Bull Ford Fiesta ST.

In World RX, drivers Reinis Nitiss and Andreas Bakkerud will be back to OMSE to defend their FIA World Rallycross Teams Championship title in a pair of bold red Ford Fiesta ST rallycross machines.

Also joining the team this season is Timur Timerzyanov, who will launch a wild card campaign for the drivers’ title in his Red Bull / Viatti Ford Fiesta ST. His entry will be fielded by Namus OMSE.

OMSE returns to competition with support from technical partner Ford. “We’re excited to continue our partnership with the Olsbergs MSE Ford team in both Red Bull Global Rallycross and the FIA World Rallycross Championship,” said Jamie Allison, director of Ford Racing.

“The team and its Fiesta ST program have won four straight championships in Red Bull Global Rallycross, as well as the 2014 FIA World Rallycross teams title. They’ve got an excellent platform with a young and talented driver lineup. We’re really looking forward to the 2015 season.”

OMSE Ford Fiesta rallycross cars are class of the field at any race they enter. The powerful, 600-horsepower all-wheel drive Supercars machines are top performers that have scored countless wins and podiums at races around the world.

DeJong, at 17, is the youngest driver in Red Bull Global Rallycross. He won all but two races in the 2014 GRC Lites development series and will step up to the top Supercars class for the first time in 2015.

Teammate Wiman transitions from the rookie to an expert role on the team as he returns to defend his 2014 Red Bull Global Rallycross drivers’ title. The 21-year-old driver earned five podiums last season — three second-place finishes and two thirds — en route to his first drivers’ title.

Bakkerud, 23, and Nitiss, 19, proved a potent pair on the World RX championship last year, together winning the coveted FIA World Rallycross Teams Championship title for OMSE. In 12 rounds of competition, they achieved 10 podium finishes between them, including three outright victories.

Team newcomer Timerzyanov, a two-time European Rallycross champion (2012, 2013), says he’s excited about the opportunity to work with the OMSE squad this season. “Team boss Andreas Eriksson wants to be the best and he will do anything to try to be the best,” said Timerzyanov. “The people in this organization know every bolt on the cars and they know what they need to do to win. I trust this team.”

OMSE’s multi-series campaigns in rallycross are guided by the new team slogan “Extreme Forces,” representing their united worldwide challenge for rallycross dominance. Fans can follow the team across social media platforms using the #OMSE #XForces hashtags.

The successful Lites development series will also return in 2015 with full calendars supporting both the World RX and Global Rallycross championships. OMSE will field Lites cars in both championships, as well as in the RallyX Scandinavia series.

Confirmed for OMSE’s 2015 GRC Lites squad are young American Austin Cindric and Swede Oliver Eriksson, who will also race a Lites car at home in the RallyX Scandinavia series. Kevin Eriksson will race in the RX Lites championship and race a Supercar in the RallyX Scandinavia series alongside Sebastian Eriksson. Sandra Hultgren also joins the Lites field in the RallyX Scandinavia series.

The OMSE organization is led by Andreas Eriksson, himself a championship rally and rallycross driver. He is supported by Chief Financial Officer Jan-Erik Steen and three-time European Rallycross Champion Jussi Pinomäki.

Rallycross is a blend of circuit racing, off-road racing and rally competition. It promises intense crowd-pleasing action in a fan-friendly track environment. As many as 10 drivers line up to start at once, piloting high-horsepower compact cars through race traffic over a challenging short course that features jumps, unbanked turns, hills and transitions between pavement and gravel. It is sometimes described as an action motorsport and is emerging as the top youth-market motorsport in the world.

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).