With the final race of the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup, being the 10-hour Petit Le Mans, teams have brought some of the best drivers in the world to fill out their driver lineups.
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing have grabbed two top IndyCar drivers to join their team for the Atlanta classic.
Four-time IndyCar champion, and 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon joins Richard Westbrook and former IndyCar driver Ryan Briscoe in the No. 67 lineup for the fourth time this year, after Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans.
In the No. 66, four-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais joins Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller. The trio took home a win at the Daytona 24 earlier this year, and a second place at the 12 Hours of Sebring. It will be Bourdais’ first race back in the car after he was forced to miss Le Mans due to injuries sustained in a horrifying crash during qualifying for the Indy 500.
Presumptive championship leaders Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia—they only need to start Petit Le Mans to take the crown—are partnering with Mike Rockenfeller in the No. 3 Corvette C7.R. The former DTM champion also raced with the team in 2016, in addition to the endurance rounds this year.
Teammates Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner are teaming up with three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Marcel Fassler, with whom they won the 2016 Daytona 24.
After racing the Daytona 24 with the No. 24 BMW and Sebring with the No. 25 crew, Kuno Wittmer returns to the No. 25 lineup, partnering Alexander Sims and Bill Auberlen.
Nicky Catsburg joins the No. 24 M6 GTLM entry, hoping to help John Edwards and Martin Tomczyk defend their Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca victory.
Overall Petit Le Mans winner in the rain-soaked 2015 race, Nick Tandy, returns to the IMSA series for the first time this year. The 2015 Le Mans winner will join Patrick Pilet—also part of the overall winning squad in ’15—and Dirk Werner in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR.
Tandy’s Porsche LMP1 teammate, Earl Bamber will also make his first appearance of the year this weekend at Petit. The reigning Le Mans champ—he also won in 2015 with Tandy–and current FIA World Endurance Championship points leader, will join the No. 912 team, the number the piloted for all of the 2016 IMSA season.
Risi Competizione’s Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander will be joined by Alessandro Pier Guidi in the No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTE. Pier Guidi previously won the Daytona 24 in GTD in a Ferrari 458 and races alongside Risi’s Endurance ringer from Daytona and their win at Sebring this year, James Calado.
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