Indy Lights: Pigot powers to pole in Barber

By Apr 24, 2015, 9:02 PM EDT
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It’s a big weekend for the Mazda Road to Indy this weekend, with each of the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda series having two races.

Indy Lights qualifying occurred today; the series’ recap is below:

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After 40 minutes of almost constant shuffling of positions at the top of the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires pack, Spencer Pigot and Juncos Racing claimed the pole position for the first of two races that will comprise this weekend’s Legacy Indy Lights 100 at Barber Motorsports Park.

The honor came as some kind of redemption for Pigot, who won last year’s Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, along with a MAZDASPEED scholarship to graduate into Indy Lights, and seemed to have the pole within his grasp one week ago on the streets of Long Beach, only to be edged in the dying moments by Jack Harvey.

This time his team made sure that Pigot ventured out onto the challenging and undulating 2.3-mile, 17-turn Barber Motorsports Park ahead of his main rival, and Pigot responded with a lap at 1:12.3865. Pigot’s effort showed the effectiveness of the new Mazda MZR-R-powered Dallara IL-15 by circulating a full 1.5 seconds inside the previous Indy Lights lap record.

Harvey, driving for seven-time Indy Lights championship-winning team Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian, also improved his time in the closing minutes but ended up 0.2505 seconds shy in second place. Championship leader Ed Jones (Carlin) will share Row Two of the grid with Pigot’s teammate, Kyle Kaiser, followed by Schmidt Peterson’s RC Enerson, who led the way for a healthy portion of another thrilling 40-minute session, and the second Carlin Dallara-Mazda of ex-Formula 1 racer Max Chilton.

The first of two Indy Lights Legacy 100 races this weekend will start tomorrow afternoon at 2:50 p.m., and the one-hour Race Two “feature” event on Sunday, April 26, at 12:10 p.m., immediately before the Verizon IndyCar Series headline event. All times are local. Live timing and commentary for all sessions will be available on the new Mazda Road to Indy App with live streaming at racecontrol.indycar.com.

Spencer Pigot #12 Mazda/Doug Mockett & Company/Rising Star Racing/The Stutz/BAD/OMP-Juncos Racing): “My team really wanted me to get out in front of Jack. We didn’t want anyone in front of us. We wanted clean air because that’s where we get the optimum downforce. The guys worked really hard today in the changing conditions. There wasn’t much rubber on the track for our first practice this morning, then in the afternoon it got quite hot, which made the track much greasier and changed the balance of the car. It cooled down again for qualifying, so it was a real mix of conditions and setup changes. It was a lot of work throughout qualifying to make that last run as good as it could be. The plan tomorrow will be to stay in front of Jack. This is not an easy place to pass, but you can get around on the outside in Turn One so I have to try to stay ahead of him.”

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).