Rumours have been rampant since Ford announced, the day before the 83rd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, its official return in GT at Le Mans and in endurance with two programs, the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the World Endurance Championship (WEC). Though the American manufacturer gave no indication of the names of the drivers to be entered, the renewal of some teams' drivers as well as the absence of others in their regular cars gave some hints.

Indeed, the arrival of Marc Goossens and Ryan Dalziel in the VisitFlorida.com team meant Richard Westbrook was up. The Brit competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times with Corvette Racing, without any great result, but his first participation at Le Mans ended on the third step of the podium with a Porsche for the BMS team. His recruitment makes sense since he is familiar with both the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship after having taken part in the new championship since its inception (he scored a class win at the last edition of the 12 Hours of Sebring during the American Le Mans Series era with Corvette Racing) and the GT class having become the FIA GT2 Champion in 2009.

Corvette Racing announced the list of drivers who will compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans next year with the return of Jordan Taylor and the arrival of his brother Ricky. The latter will compensate for the absence of Ryan Briscoe, who took the start at Le Mans for the second time after 2013. It would have been surprising had Corvette Racing parted ways with the Australian after he helped the team win in the GTLM class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and at the 12 Hours of Sebring this year. The hiring, by Ford, of Briscoe, who participated in the Porsche RS Spyder adventure with Penske, also seemed obvious since he is without contract for the year and has already driven with Chip Ganassi Racing, the outfit in charge of the Ford GT in the two championships, in IndyCar Series.

As for Joey Hand, he was more or less already official since he has taken part in the development of the car practically since its first roll-out. The other test driver, Billy Johnson, has not been kept on to become a driver, but the record of Hand, former official BMW driver is telling: an overall win at the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona with Chip Ganassi Racing for his first participation and a GT Drivers title in the ALMS the same year.

Hand will rejoin a former partner in crime, Dirk Müller. The German driver began rising when he won the German Porsche Carrera Cup. He then climbed in GT for the German manufacturer before joining the enemy, BMW. Müller followed the Bavarian manufacturer when it entered super-touring before returning to GT, first in the ALMS, then in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

The four drivers hired all have solid experience in endurance and more particularly in driving a GT, as well as the circuits included in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and at Le Mans. They have 12 participations at the 24 Hours between them.

“We can’t say enough about how proud we are to present this group of drivers,” said Raj Nair, Ford Group Vice President, Global Product Development and Chief Technical Officer. “This goes straight to the heart of everything we do at Ford, and selecting the right drivers for the Ford GT racing program is just as important as building the car. We believe we have the best car, and now we have the best drivers to match.”

“What I look for in a driver first of all is heart,” said Chip Ganassi, owner of Ford Chip Ganassi Racing. “At this level, all drivers are fast. We want drivers that can work well with others. Drivers that have endurance car experience. Drivers that have been to Le Mans. All these things add up. It’s a team of drivers that act like they’ve been together for quite a while already.”

The drivers in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship are now known, so we wait to find out which drivers will be involved in the WEC and the 24 Hours of Le Mans...

Cécile Bonardel / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO