Kanaan to sub for Bourdais at Le Mans

Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan has been confirmed as the replacement for the injured Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 68 Ford Chip Ganassi GT at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours.

Kanaan, who raced with the Chip Ganassi Ford team at this year's Rolex 24 at Daytona with British drivers Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell, will drive with Joey Hand and Dirk Muller at La Sarthe on June 17-18 as part of Ford's four-car assault on the race. This move has come after Bourdais was injured himself in a heavy crash during Indy 500 qualifying.

"We're very pleased we are able to get a driver of Tony's experience and talent in the No. 68 Ford GT for the Le Mans 24," said Ford Performance's global director Dave Pericak. "It's certainly not the ideal situation and we're heartbroken that Sebastien won't be back to defend his race victory, since we know how much that race means to him personally. He is an important part of our family, and we look forward to him making a complete recovery."

Kanaan is not new to endurance racing. As well as his fifth place GTLM finish at this year's Rolex 24, Kanaan also won the race outright with Chip Ganassi Ford back in 2015 racing a Daytona Prototype with Scott Dixon, Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson. This will, however, mark his Le Mans debut.

"It's an honor to be named a part of the Ford GT line-up for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing at the Le Mans 24," Kanaan said. "It's obviously an unfortunate situation that brought us to this point with Sebastien's injuries, but I'm going to do my best to take his place and try to help win this amazing race for the team again this year.

"This race has definitely been on my bucket list for a long time, so I'm thankful that Chip and our partners at Ford have given me this opportunity."