Dixon: “It’s Obviously a Dream of Mine to Race at Le Mans”

Scott Dixon has no immediate plans to leave the IndyCar Series, after securing his fourth career championship Sunday at Sonoma Raceway not long after announcing a contract extension with Chip Ganassi Racing.

But with Dixon having had a consistent part-time presence over the last decade in sports car racing, and with Ganassi going in full strength with the new Ford GT program starting next year, he’d be a natural to be a part of the program in some capacity at some stage.

Dixon, who together with IndyCar teammate Tony Kanaan and NASCAR stars Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson won overall at this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, noted his Le Mans aspirations on Sunday after winning his latest IndyCar championship.

“I haven’t been to Le Mans, so I think with the program that’s starting out, it’s probably not something that would be needed,” Dixon said.

“I think it’s something that maybe I’ll drive later on in the year at different races, maybe the 12‑hour at Sebring or Petit depending on the driver lineup.

“But it’s obviously a dream of mine to race at Le Mans, and it’s a dream of mine to race at Bathurst at some point, too, maybe start there with the 12‑hour at some point early in the year.

“But yeah, the GT program is very pushed by Ford, so who knows.”

Dixon, who has two career Rolex 24 wins (2006 and 2015), thanked Ganassi for allowing him to sample a wide variety of machinery.

He also confirmed he’ll be back in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford with Scott Pruett and Joey Hand to close the year at Petit Le Mans, as he also was at Sebring back in March.

“I think over the course of my career of 14 years with this team and one other with PacWest, we’ve driven very different cars,” he said.

“I think the fun part about this team is that you get to drive different sports cars, you get to do different races, which I’ll have later this year at Petit Le Mans, and the GT program is obviously pretty fun, as well.

“Right now the Le Mans cars look amazing to drive, but that’s kind of it, and in my near future I don’t see that happening.”