Ford GT WEC Driver Announcement Set for Jan. 5

Photo: IMSA

The drivers for Ford Performance Chip Ganassi Racing’s factory effort in the FIA World Endurance Championship will be revealed next week, as part of the launch of its UK-based operations, it has been revealed.

Ford Europe has scheduled the event for Jan. 5 at the program’s new motorsports base in England, with further details on the Multimatic-run effort expected to be released.

So far, four drivers have been confirmed for the Detroit automaker’s two-car GT Le Mans class program in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, with Joey Hand, Dirk Mueller, Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook set to fly the flag in North America and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

A handful of additional drivers, including Sebastien Bourdais, Marino Franchitti, Olivier Pla and Billy Johnson have taken part in pre-season testing, with Bourdais and Franchitti expected to be confirmed as IMSA endurance drivers shortly.

Pla, Stefan Muecke and Andy Priaulx, who will drive a Ford EcoBoost-powered Ganassi DP at Daytona, meanwhile, have all been linked to full-season WEC drives.

It’s unclear if Ford will utilize a two or three-driver lineup for regular distance WEC races. If a three-driver approach is used for the season, it would likely rule out the possibility of additional Ganassi star drivers, such as Scott Dixon, from taking part in the manufacturer’s planned four-car assault on Le Mans.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John