WIX filters continues partnership with SH Rallycross

By Apr 30, 2015, 2:10 PM EDT
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SH Rallycross announced today WIX® Filters will be the primary sponsor on the No. 07 SH Racing Ford Fiesta, driven by Nelson Piquet Jr., for three races during the 2015 Red Bull Global Rallycross season.

In addition, WIX will serve as a major associate sponsor with SH Rallycross for the 12-race 2015 Red Bull Global Rallycross season as well as the 2015 X Games. This is the second consecutive season WIX has partnered with SH Rallycross.

“We are very excited to have WIX Filters back with SH Rallycross in 2015,” said Dennis Reinbold, Partner in the SH Rallycross program. “WIX is a tremendously valued contributor to our motorsports activities and critical to the performance of our race cars. With four podium finishes, seven heat wins and an X Games medal in 2014, we’re looking to continue our success together and build upon what we have achieved both on and off the track.”

Piquet’s Ford Fiesta will sport a special WIX Filters livery in the Ft. Lauderdale season opener on May 31, as well as in Detroit on July 25 and the Port of Los Angeles race on September 12.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with SH Rallycross and Nelson again this season,” said Jennifer Gibson, brand manager for WIX Filters. “Nelson has a great personality and a loyal following of global fans, so it’s a strong partnership for the WIX brand. Coming off such a great 2014, we’re excited to see what he and this team accomplish this year.”

WIX’s racing products include oil, air and fuel filters that have been track tested and proven in all levels of stock car, dirt track, off-road and drag racing. WIX uses motorsports as a grueling testing ground for scenarios involving high temperatures, fluctuations in pressure and rapid breakdown of engine oil.

“WIX Filters has been a leader in its category for 75 years and SH Rallycross is excited to be continuing this relationship in 2015,” said James “Sulli” Sullivan, Principal SH Rallycross. “We are very pleased to have WIX as the primary sponsor on our race car when the season opens May 31 in Ft. Lauderdale.”

Piquet became an X Games Medalist after capturing the bronze in the 2014 X Games Austin, and had podium finishes in the Washington, D.C., Charlotte, and New York events while scoring seven heat wins.

“It’s great to have WIX Filters back with SH Rallycross for the 2015 season,” said Piquet, who placed fourth in the 2014 Red Bull Global Rallycross SuperCars point standings. “We had a solid season last year and we hope to improve those performances with wins in 2015.”

Red Bull Global Rallycross events are contested on tracks between a half-mile and a mile in length, featuring a mixture of dirt, tarmac and other obstacles. Events include qualifying, heat races, a last-chance qualifier and the final, where the winner is determined.

GRC vehicles are able to produce 600 horsepower, accelerate from 0-60 miles per hour in 1.9 seconds, withstand 70-foot jumps and do not include traction control.

SH Rallycross previously announced that The No. 07 car will have primary sponsorship from HYDROXYCUT at seven of twelve Red Bull GRC races this year, as well as the 2015 Austin X GAMES. The team expects to make additional major primary and associate sponsorship announcements in the coming weeks.

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).