The ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest) today announced that the full squad of four Ford GTs will compete at the 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours, one year on from the marque’s triumphant return to the endurance race that everyone wants to win. The Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team’s 2016 victory came 50 years after a historic 1-2-3 finish for Ford at the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours. Ford also won the race in 1967 when Dan Gurney (US) and A. J. Foyt (US) piloted the Ford GT40 to victory, giving the team another target to hit this time around.
The Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team will again field a strong team of drivers to defend its 2016 LM GTE Pro class win.
New to the team for 2017 is young Brazilian, Luis Felipe “Pipo” Derani, who will join Andy Priaulx (GB) and Harry Tincknell (GB) in the #67 Ford GT for the FIA World Endurance Championship races at Silverstone, Spa and Le Mans. The 23 year-old came to Ford’s attention in 2016 when he won the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Sebring 12 Hours on his debut, marking himself as one to watch.
The winners of last weekend’s Rolex 24 At Daytona, Joey Hand (US), Dirk Müller (GER) and Sébastien Bourdais (FRA) will defend their historic 2016 Le Mans victory in the #68 Ford GT. The sublime squad proved with their two 24-hour victories that they are very hard to beat.
The #66 Ford GT will keep the regular rapid line up of Stefan Mücke (GER) and Olivier Pla (FRA) in the FIA WEC, and they will again be joined by Billy Johnson (US) for the Silverstone, Spa and Le Mans races.
In the #69 Ford GT the top squad of Ryan Briscoe (AUS), Richard Westbrook (GB) and Scott Dixon (NZ) will be looking to improve on their third place Le Mans podium finish of 2016.
