Winning is what matters

A charity endurance race that is really a gigantic marketing event perfectly orchestrated by Ford Spain. The usual belief is that what matters is taking part… but no, what matters is winning.

This is how the prestigious Elena Barraquer, head of the Barraquer Foundation, made it clear and appreciated it almost from the start. The foundation, dedicated to performing cataract surgery on people without resources to prevent blindness, was the NGO we represented in this edition of the 24 Hours Ford. For her, just being there was already a gift, a reason for celebration and satisfaction, and she expected nothing more than to spend about 24 entertaining hours in good company… but always with the catchphrase: “well, and if we win too… then that’s the icing on the cake!”

Winning is not easy

Winning a 24 HoursFord race is no easy task, even in my case: thanks to luck and to the editions I have taken part in over the years, I have three victories and seven defeats in fifteen races. The most important thing is to have a good team, which is essential, so much so that it seems obvious, but it also means the drivers must be disciplined (sometimes I manage to be) and follow the instructions of the team principal.

It is important that someone is fast, because at some point you really have to go quickly. Who said you don’t race in a fuel-economy race? The fastest lap came down to just under two minutes, and to do that you have to go flat out the whole lap, reach the end of the straight above 200 km/h and take the fastest corners at full throttle. It is not essential, but it doesn’t hurt, although the most important thing is that those who are not as quick don’t waste fuel, don’t make driving mistakes, don’t damage the tyres and don’t leave the track… said like that it sounds easy, but it isn’t. With these ingredients you can have a certain level of guarantee for facing, in good conditions, a race in which each team represents an NGO, a publishing group and a sponsor.

The Ford Fiesta ST is the star

24 Hours of excitement because everyone wants to drive a car on a circuit without worrying about the DGT’s speed cameras… and even more so if it is a car like this one, a genuine GTi, the new Ford Fiesta ST with the modern EcoBoost three-cylinder turbo engine of 1.5 litres producing 200 CV. The car is the true star, and I must say it surprised me very positively. We subjected it to all sorts of tricks and tactics to bring fuel consumption down to the minimum while always driving as fast as possible: a complicated contradiction full of difficult lines, corners taken on the limit, braking to the edge, evasive manoeuvres and the “heavy hands” of up to ten drivers with their different driving styles. With all this, our winning Ford Fiesta completed 536 laps of the Madrid circuit, covered more than two thousand kilometres without the slightest problem, returning very tight fuel consumption figures (in the end we even had some petrol left over), and always with a spectacular level of stability and enjoyment.

Rossy de Palma and Ramón Arangüena

Each team has 10 drivers, at least two of whom must be celebrities, ambassadors who lend their face, name and prestige selflessly to support the NGOs they sponsor, thereby attracting the attention of all kinds of media. Ours, both brilliant, were Rossy de Palma and Ramón Arangüena, two super ambassadors who behaved superbly and radiated kindness and charm. Rossy, with her good wishes, gave interviews non-stop, and Ramón, in addition, showed great mastery at the wheel, because it was he who put Fiesta no. 5 in the lead, starting from 10th place, and the rest of us followed his example.

The objective we have already noted: to complete as many laps of the Jarama circuit as possible, in this case limited only by time, 24 hours from 5 pm on Friday to 5 pm on Saturday. Another limitation is fuel, essential so that it does not become a wild and therefore dangerous race: 235 litres of petrol supplied by BP, and the eight tyres provided by Continental are also decisive.

The race itself was very beautiful and highly competitive from start to finish. There was a lot of heat, sun and a few drops at dawn that came to nothing more than a threat of rain. The strategy worked well, and the winning car, ours, number 5, the one for the Barraquer Foundation, led the race almost throughout, from the moment Ramón Arangüena put it in first position until the finish. The top three finished on the same lap, separated by seconds, which shows the equality and excitement of the final kilometres. They completed 563 laps of the Jarama circuit representing the Elena Barraquer Foundation NGO, finishing just ahead of Fiesta no. 7 from the magazine autopista.es and the NGO ENVERA, and no. 3 from the magazine Autofácil, which championed the interests of ASPADIR.

Final classification 24 Hours Ford
1 – Ford Fiesta ST no. 5 – Coches/Alta Gama/Love/Cosas de Coches – Elena Barraquer Foundation – 563 laps – €30,000 (Rossy de Palma, Ramón Arangüena, Ernesto Nava, Juan Pablo Esteban, Martín Gabilondo, Álvaro Baigorri, Josep Camós, Ramiro Mansanet, José Vilar, Miguel Ángel González. Coordinator: Marc Gutiérrez)

2 – Ford Fiesta ST no. 7 Autopista – ENVERA – 563 laps – €20,000 (Ángel Expósito Mora, Jesús Álvarez, Ángel Sans, Dani Cuadrado, Lorenzo Alcocer, Manuel Juliá, Alberto Montoya, Mario González, Manuel Torres, Octavio Morillas. Coordinator: Isaac Guillén)

3 – Ford Fiesta ST no. 3 – Autofácil – ASPAdiR – 562 laps – €10,000 (Enrique Arce, Flowstreet, Pedro Luis Pedrón, Eduardo Alonso, Juan Hernández, Alberto Giménez, Antonio Rodríguez Vaquerizo, Ruth Candela, Gregorio Martínez, Alejandro Villaverde. Coordinator: Alfonso Peralvo)

4 – Ford Fiesta ST no. 8 – Coches.net – Fundación A la Par – 559 laps – €9,000 (Alba Carrillo, Carmelo Sanz de Barros, Joan Dalmau, Román Campa, José Grueso, Pedro Martín, Miguel Ángel Linares, Fran Tejero, José María Alegre, Fernando Acebrón. Coordinator: Iván Haro)

5 – Ford Fiesta ST no. 10 – ABC – Fundación Juegaterapia – 559 laps – €8,000 (Blas Cantó, Tamar Novas, Ana García Lozano, Javier Obón, Aitor Santos, Eduardo Rivas, Noelia Seoane, Julián Corrales, Christian García, Ander Aramburu, Alberto de Luis. Coordinator: Joan Mussull)

6 – Ford Fiesta ST no. 11 – GQ – APADIS – 559 laps – €7,000 (Juan Ramón Lucas, Jalis de la Serna, Francisco Javier Arquer, Héctor Izquierdo, Oscar González, Gonzalo Fernández, José Manuel González, Jacobo Núñez, Javier Moralejo, Carlos Álvarez. Coordinator: Xavi Navarro)

7 – Ford Fiesta ST no. 9 – Mediaset España – Fundación Mensajeros de la Paz – 558 laps – €6,000 (Ricardo Reyes, Laura Madrueño, Fernando Tejero, Vanessa Romero, Jorge Merchán, Javier Calderón, Ángel Gil, Arancha Pato, Luis Miguel González, Félix León, Manuel Kindelan, Juan Soler. Coordinator: Miguel Martín)

8 – Ford Fiesta ST no. 1 – El Mundo – APASCOVI – 557 laps – €5,000 (Jorge Sanz, Andrés Caparrós, Miguel Sesé, Juan Figueras, Javier Puig, Pablo Febrero, Jesús Martín, Alejandro Aguilar, Juan Rueda, Helios Álvarez. Coordinator: Ana Barbero)

9 – Ford Fiesta ST no. 2 – Diario Motor – Asociación de Médicos del Mundo – 556 laps – €5,000 (Luis Tosar, Carlos García, Alejandro Montejo, Daniel Valdivieso, Miguel Llaguno, Francisco Martín, Rafael Alonso, María José Moreno, Filip Steeman. Coordinator: Joan Pere Borreguero)

10 – Ford Fiesta ST no. 12 – La Razón – ASPAYM-Madrid – 551 points – €5,000 (Juan Junquera Temprano, Rodrigo Poison, Fernando Álvarez, José Macías, Esther Ramos, José Antonio Guzmán, Vicente García, Toni Prat, David Sanz, Iván Rubio. Coordinator: Juan Celada)

11 – Ford Fiesta ST no. 6 – Diario As – APADEMA – 549 laps – €6,000 (*) (Oscar Higares, Mar Abascal, Santiago Segura, Alejandro Pendas, José Reimunde, Marco González, David Ayala, Emilio Olivares, Ignacio de Benito, Fernando Vallejo, Alfonso Sánchez de León. Coordinator: Joan Arnella)

12 – Ford Fiesta ST no. 4 – ¡Hola! – Pablo Horstmann Foundation – 543 laps – €5,000 (Cayetano Martínez de Irujo, Fitz-James Stuart, Santi Acosta, Eugenia Recio, Roberto Grande, Beatriz Prioste, Javier Moltó, Máximo Sant, Jon Tolaretxipi, Javier Ochoa, Etienne Lagrange. Coordinator: César Fernández)