Felipe Nasr, Action Express win 12 Hours of Sebring

By Mar 16, 2019, 11:09 PM EDT
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In a race with extremely low attrition, it was almost ironic that a failure on the No. 96 Turner Motorsports BMW erased a second and a half lead for Felipe Nasr in the No. 31 Action Express Cadillac DPI over Jordan Taylor in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPI – and set up an seven-minute sprint to the checkers at the end of the 12 Hours of Sebring.

But coming to the final restart, Nasr snookered Taylor exiting the final turn. While weaving back and forth to scrub his tires, Nasr suddenly straightened his Cadillac and leapt off the corner, leaving Taylor staring out his windshield and mashing the accelerator a split second too late.

Nasr stretched his advantage in small increments during the final minutes and scored his first 12 Hours of Sebring win by 1.4 seconds.

“I’m absolutely glad about the work on the Action Express boys put on today was unbelievable,” Nasr said on NBCSN. “Every stop, every decision. Their strategy was on point, and I will call today the perfect day. In racing, it’s hard to get those.”

Co-driver Pipo Derani earned his third 12-Hour win.

“This is incredible,” Derani said. “I cannot believe someone just told me since 1962, I think, I’m the first man to win it three (times) in four years.”

With wins and podiums on the line in the final run, that meant a lot of drama. Three divisions ended with less than a 3-second margin of victory.

Racing for a position that would allow him to challenge GTLM leader Nick Tandy (No. 911 Porsche GT Team), Ryan Briscoe (No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing) spun while trying to get around Andy Lally in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini.

Lally was running second in GTD and embroiled in his own battle for a class win with Mirko Bortolotti (No. 11 GRT Grasser Racing Lamborghini).

Briscoe dropped to the tail end of the lead lap while Joey Hand (No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing) advanced to second in GTLM. Antonio Garcia (No. 3 Corvette Racing) took third to complete the class podium.

Bortolotti kept his advantage over Lally to win in GTD, and Toni Vilander (No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari) rounded out the top three in that class.

“It’s a special win,” said Bortolotti, whose Grasser team also earned its second consecutive Rolex 24 triumph in January. “It’s one of the most important races on the calendar for us. … We love this place; it’s just a historical, old school track. Everybody wants to win here.”

Finally, Performance Tech Motorsports scored an LMP2 class victory by 13 laps with the trio of Kyle Masson, Andrew Evans and Cameron Cassels.

The race ended with a record for the fewest retirements (two). The No. 19 Moorespeed GTD Audi and Bill Auberlein’s Turner BMW were the only two cars that failed to see the checkered flag. The No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini was off track with 3 hours remaining but got back on track later.

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).