Ganassi’s IndyCar aces join Cadillac line-up for Rolex 24

Former Formula 1 driver Kevin Magnussen was a full-time IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driver with Renger van der Zande in Ganassi’s Cadillac DPi-V.R in 2021, but this year will shift to the Peugeot program in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

However, the Dane has been retained by Ganassi to drive its new second entry, the #02, in the Rolex 24 alongside full-timers Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn, as well as Marcus Ericsson.

Ericsson was initially on Ganassi’s singleton entry last year, but eventually the team decided on three drivers, with Scott Dixon joining van der Zande and Magnussen. Ericsson has since scored his first two IndyCar victories with the Ganassi team, and finished sixth in the championship last year.

Dixon, a six-time IndyCar champion and four-time winner of the Rolex 24 (three overall), will join van der Zande and Sebastien Bourdais, Ganassi’s full-season pairing for the #01 Cadillac, and will be joined by reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou, who will thus, like Ericsson, make his IMSA debut.

The Ganassi Cadillacs are widely expected to be in the hunt for victory, with Ganassi having won the race six times overall and two further times in class, and with the Cadillac DPi-V.R having won four of the last five Rolex 24s. Only late punctures prevented Ganassi winning its first race with Cadillac at Daytona last year.

“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.”