The 85th Le Mans 24 Race

The 85th Le Mans 24 Hour Race is on June 17-18 in Le Mans, France. Here is a related article as the build up to the race begins.

Past Verizon IndyCar Series champion and 2013 Rolex 24 at Daytona winner Tony Kanaan will join drivers Joey Hand and Dirk Müller in Ford Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 68 Ford GT at the Le Mans 24 Hours as the team looks to defend its 2016 GTE Pro class victory.

Kanaan, who won the Indy 500 in 2013, fills the seat left vacant by fellow IndyCar Series regular Sébastien Bourdais, who was injured during qualifying for the Indianapolis 500. This will be Kanaan’s first Le Mans 24.

“We’re very pleased we are able to get a driver of Tony’s experience and talent in the No. 68 Ford GT for the Le Mans 24,” said Dave Pericak, global director, Ford Performance. “It’s certainly not the ideal situation and we’re heartbroken that Sébastien won’t be back to defend his race victory since we know how much that race means to him personally. He is an important part of our family, and we look forward to him making a complete recovery.”

Ford Performance will have a full contingent of four Ford GTs in the Le Mans field.

In addition to the No. 68 car, Ford will field the No. 67 (Luis Felipe Derani, Andy Priaulx, Harry Tincknell), the No. 6 (Stefan Mucke, Oliver Pla, Billy Johnson) and the No. 69 (Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook and Scott Dixon).

The No. 69 car finished third last year at Le Mans in the GTE Pro class to join the No. 68 team on the podium. Read more at http://performance.ford.com/series/ford-gt/news/articles/wec/2017/02/full-squad-of-ford-gts-to-compete-at-2017-le-mans-24-hours.html

Here is a list of all entries: https://www.motorsport.com/lemans/news/full-2017-le-mans-24-hours-entry-list-870556/