IMSA: Ganassi preparing to defend overall Rolex 24 win

Chip Ganassi Racing is expected to return and defend its overall win at the Rolex 24 at Daytona with two Ford EcoBoost DPs. The Indianapolis-based team captured its most recent victory at the 24-hour contest in January with an all-star lineup of IndyCar champions Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan, plus Ganassi's NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray, in the No. 02 DP.

The winning foursome is queued up to return in the No. 02, and the No. 01 Ford EcoBoost DP is also being readied to run.

"We have a strong desire to defend our win at Daytona in the 02 car," CGR managing director Mike Hull told RACER. "Our IndyCar guys have been preparing our prototypes to be able to do that."

RACER has learned 17-year-old Canadian driver Lance Stroll, who spent 2015 competing in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship and recently signed on to become a Williams Formula 1 test driver, could be in the No. 01. CGR IndyCar driver Charlie Kimball and his recent CGR teammate Sage Karam have been among those mentioned as candidates to join Stroll in the twin-turbo V6-powered prototype.

The team has a history of holding its Rolex 24 driver announcements until shortly before the final pre-event test, the Roar Before the 24, and Hull says CGR will continue with that tradition.

"We are close to having a lineup of professional drivers in all categories," he added. "Traditionally, we always file entries and then work to fit drivers in at the Roar, and once we're satisfied everything and everyone is in place, we have, historically, confirmed who'll be driving for us.

"I'd expect that to be the case here, and we also have our brand-new Ford GT program with Chip Ganassi Racing that will debut – formally debut – next month. We will be plenty busy at Daytona, that's for sure."