From Start To Finish, Indycar Has Strong Prominence At Rolex 24

Can Dixon and Kanaan deliver for Ganassi?

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The start of any racing season offers intriguing and varied storylines.

The same holds true for Verizon IndyCar Series drivers participating in the Rolex 24 At Daytona endurance sports car race, which annually opens the North American motorsports season and gathers racers from multiple disciplines to compete in the 24-hour test of man, machine and resolve on Daytona International Speedway’s 3.56-mile road course.

The twice-around-the-clock event, which starts at 2:40 p.m. ET today, has multiple INDYCAR-related plots in 2016, including:

• Katherine Legge, who has driven in 39 Indy car races in her career, including two Indianapolis 500s, is co-driver of the Panoz DeltaWing Racing’s unique DWC13 chassis that set fast time in the final practice Jan. 29 and hopes to finally fulfill the promise that came with its unveiling five years ago.
• Chip Ganassi Racing, which has won 100 Indy car races and 11 championships, has won a record six Rolex 24 events and is the defending overall winner. INDYCAR drivers Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan make up half the returning winning team and will drive the Ganassi Ford EcoBoost Prototype in what will be its final race.
• As it places its Prototype in mothballs, the Ganassi team is also debuting the return of the Ford GT with an eye toward celebrating the legendary model’s return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, where it carved its name in sports car history 50 years ago. Verizon IndyCar Series veterans Sebastien Bourdais and Ryan Briscoe are members of the two-car Ganassi Ford GT squad this weekend.
• Even the start of today’s race has a distinct INDYCAR flavor as A.J. Foyt, who has more race wins than any driver in the sport’s history (67) – not to mention a pair of Rolex 24 victories and a Daytona 500 win – will wave the green flag.

Most of all, Verizon IndyCar Series drivers say, it will be nice just to be back behind the wheel of a car and get the season going.

“It’s just good to steer left and right and press the pedals," said Simon Pagenaud, whose fulltime job is driving a Team Penske Chevrolet but who this weekend will help pilot the No. 31 Action Express Racing Corvette Prototype at Daytona. “You get to feel speed in your eyes. For me, it’s the competitive edge. I like to feel the competition and try to come here to be competitive. It’s a mode you put yourself in. It’s nice to be able to do that. I feel like my race craft could get rusty, so the more you’re in a car, the best it is for you."

In the final practice, run under sunny and dry conditions, the DeltaWing clocked the fastest lap of 1 minute, 38.590 seconds (129.993 mph). That came a day after the team opted not to make a qualifying attempt in torrential rains, meaning the car will start last among the Prototypes and 13th overall.

“We thought it’s a long race so it doesn’t really matter where you qualify," said Legge, named last year to drive for Grace Autosport in the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 this May. “It was nice to get some dry running in (Jan. 29) and see that we’ve got the speed.

“It’s still going to be about attrition from this point forward and making good decisions," added Legge, one of the four DeltaWing drivers that includes Sean Rayhall, a two-time winner last year in Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires. “We’ve got a really, really strong driver lineup this year and if we can all do that and are there at the end, we’ll definitely be at the top."

Meanwhile, Dixon will be the lead driver in the No. 02 Ganassi Prototype that will start seventh. Along with Kanaan, his teammates are Ganassi NASCAR drivers Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray. Both the No. 02 and its sister No. 01 car were two seconds off the DeltaWing pace in final practice, but the drivers know it’s not necessarily who’s fast, but who lasts.

“We’re going to have our work cut out and have to hope probably for a little bit of attrition, which in the past has helped," said Dixon, who owns the distinct honor of being both the defending Rolex 24 and Verizon IndyCar Series champion heading into 2016. “But in the past we’ve also been a lot closer on straight-up pace. It’s going to be a tough race but obviously we’ve got a great team and the car’s pretty robust. We’re still going into the race thinking we’ve got an opportunity, that we can win."

Kanaan, the 2004 Verizon IndyCar Series and 2013 Indy 500 champion, believes the format of the endurance race compared to a normal INDYCAR race could play a determining role in the outcome.

“You’re talking about a 24-hour race against a two-hour race," Kanaan said. “It’s definitely a completely different beast. Here, you have to save your car, you’ve got to be smart about how you play traffic and those things happen for such a long period of time. I don’t know how many more pit stops we have here, but you have to be sharp and on top of it because you don’t want to lose time there because it’s time lost on the racetrack. Everything happens a little slower here but also more times, so you have more chances to make it wrong.

“It was Chip’s goal (to repeat at Daytona) when he brought those two (Prototype) cars back," Kanaan added. “He didn’t have to because he has enough on his plate with the GT program. We’ll try. We definitely have the people, we definitely have the team, the car and the engine, so we’ll see."

Among those Ganassi has entrusted in the new Ford GT is Bourdais, a four-time Indy car champ who is tied for seventh on the all-time list with 34 wins. The Le Mans native admits the program is still teething and debuting at Daytona is daunting.

“It’s the grand opening for the Ford GT, the whole brand new program starting with the 24-hour race," Bourdais said. “It’s a pretty big challenge but looking forward to it. We’ve got a great team with Chip Ganassi Racing to try and make it work and that’s what we’re going to do."

Follow IndyCar.com throughout the course of the Rolex 24 At Daytona for live blogs, video blogs and updates throughout the event.