Hand Confirmed at Ganassi for 2015

Joey Hand will be back in North America full-time next season, as he joins Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates in 2015.

The American ends his long-term relationship with BMW and will be one of the two drivers in the No. 01 Riley-Ford along with Scott Pruett.

“What an opportunity. To say I’m thrilled to be joining this team would be an understatement,” Hand said. “With the successes of Chip’s team in sports car racing, the great history of the No. 01 car and getting to team-up with a legend like Scott Pruett, I think Christmas came a little early for me this season.”

Hand returns Stateside after two seasons in DTM, and after only running selected TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and American Le Mans Series races in both the BMW Z4 GTE and prior BMW M3 in the interim.

He also has past history with the team, having driven with CGR at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2011, 2012 and 2013. He was part of the team’s overall win in 2011, co-driving with Pruett, Rojas and Graham Rahal.

“I had a great experience with the team in 2011, 2012 and 2013, and now here we are back together full-time in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship,” he said.

“Daytona is right around the corner to kick off the season and I can’t wait to start working with Scott and the team.

“In all honesty, I’ve wanted to drive for this team since I was a little kid. I’m excited about my long-term future here and what we can potentially accomplish together as sports car racing continues to grow.”

Additionally, Ford EcoBoost has been confirmed as primary sponsor for the effort, replacing Scuderia Telmex, which departs with outdoing driver Rojas.

“The evolution of our Ford EcoBoost technology continues to be the major focus of our program for 2015,” said Jamie Allison, Ford Racing director.

“We look forward to continuing that climb with Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship series and we welcome Joey Hand to our program joining Scott Pruett as we compete for wins every race and a Ford championship.”

No additional drivers were named for the team’s Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup effort. However those extras could be announced as early as later this week.