So, should we expect to see Scott Dixon at the Le Mans 24 Hours next year? Well, it has to be said that the team he won with in California this weekend will be entering two Ford GTs on behalf of the American carmaker and as a competitor in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, he is also used to long races. However, it would be on condition that the US championship does not hold a round on the same weekend as either Le Mans itself or the compulsory test day for rookies, 2 weeks before.

Ford will be running in LM GTE Pro next year, which means overall victory is not within their grasp, yet the New Zealander has other ideas: “I’d like to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans one day. Stefan Johansson (who won Le Mans with Porsche in 1997, Ed.) told me it’s the greatest race in the world, with an incredible atmosphere, so of course I want to be a part of that. It would be fantastic to win the Le Mans 24 Hours after the Indianapolis 500!"

Only two drivers have achieved that feat to date: Graham Hill in 1972 and A.J. Foyt in 1967, with Ford, but in those days the constructor raced prototypes. To win Le Mans, Scott Dixon needs to get himself behind the wheel of an LM P1.

Endurance racing is actually a return to roots for Dixon, who won the IndyCar in 2003 as a rookie, with a Panoz chassis. He is looking forward to Georgia in October: “I know the Road Atlanta course well. I drove my first race in the US there in 1999, in a Ferrari 333-SP with Stefan Johansson."

The pair retired from that race but Dixon has since entered several other American Le Mans Series races in LM P2 as well as the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. He won the Rolex 24 at Daytona with Chip Ganassi Racing in January and now has his sights set on a win at Petit Le Mans on 3 October.

Cécile Bonardel / ACO — Translated from French by Emma Paulay
PHOTO: DAYTONA BEACH (FLORIDA, USA), TUSCC, ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA, SATURDAY 24 JANUARY 2015. Scott Dixon in the Daytona paddock.