Chip Ganassi Racing has confirmed its full roster of drivers for its two-car assault on a ninth overall victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, featuring several former Le Mans winners, ex-F1 drivers and IndyCar champions.
The team will expand from one Cadillac DPi-VR in the 2021 season to two in 2022. Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais, Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber were already confirmed to be forming the full-season line-up, but they will be joined at Daytona by Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, Kevin Magnussen and Marcus Ericsson.
Van der Zande and Bourdais will have their #01 Cadillac boosted by six-time IndyCar champion Dixon and 2021 champion Palou, while the new pairing of Bamber and Lynn will be teaming up with Magnussen and Ericsson.
“Our Cadillac drivers lead by example,” Chip Ganassi Racing Managing Director Mike Hull said. “Each have already won on the world stage. They unselfishly mirror each other’s performance on and off track. Their equal experience combined with skill set is driven through zero agenda.”
“In today’s world of equal performance standards, the driver’s contribution is the ultimate separator. Our roster has eight of the very best in equal Cadillacs. Bamber, Bourdais, Ericsson, Dixon, Lynn, Magnussen and van der Zande — this group drives as one.”
The line-up features three former Le Mans winners in Bamber, Lynn and Bourdais and three drivers who have raced in Formula One (Magnussen, Ericsson, Bourdais).
Dixon, Palou and Ericsson all come over from Ganassi’s IndyCar squad, while Van der Zande and Dixon have both won at Daytona overall on multiple occasions.
The Dutchman and the New Zealander formed lat year’s Daytona line-up for the team alongside Magnussen, who has seen his role downgraded as a result of his commitments with Peugeot’s Hypercar programme.
Three of the eight drivers will be making their first start in the Florida classic, as Ericsson, Palou and Lynn have not competed in the twice-around-the-clock enduro before.
Chip Ganassi Racing is one of the most successful teams to compete in the Rolex 24, having won the race eight times overall including three in a row between 2006-2008 – a streak only matched by Wayne Taylor Racing last year.
