Scott Dixon is seeing his dream come true: the New Zealander, a champion in the American single-seaters championship IndyCar Series, will take the start at the 24 Hours on June 18th since he is one of the four drivers hired by Ford to compete at Le Mans, with Sébastien Bourdais, Billy Johnson and Harry Tincknell, winner in the LM P2 class at the 24 Hours in 2014 with Jota Sport.

Tincknell will reunite with one of his former Nissan teammates, Olivier Pla, though they will not share the same Ford GT. Instead, Tincknell will support the duo Marino Franchitti and Andy Priaulx, while Pla and Stefan Mücke will be joined by Billy Johnson. The Ford GT development driver since the beginning of the program is a regular in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, whose races take place on the sidelines of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, new moniker of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. But endurance races will not be new to the American since he has already participated several times in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, as has Dixon.

Scott Dixon, driver: "For once I’m the rookie as this will be my first Le Mans. I’m excited to make my Le Mans debut in the Ford GT. I’ve been in the car a few times in testing so I know we have a great race car here. Like any driver it is a dream come true for me to race at Le Mans and I can’t wait to get started. The history of Ford at Le Mans is very well documented and I’m proud to be part of this very special program."

A winner against all odds for the fourth time in the IndyCar Series in 2015, the New Zealander began mentioning in 2008 at Petit Le Mans that he would like to participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans one day to try for the one-two of Le Mans/Indy 500, also known as the Indianapolis 500. His wish will finally come to fruition: in addition to the 12 Hours of Sebring next weekend, Dixon will lend a hand to Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe at the 24 Hours. The same for Le Mans native Sébastien Bourdais who has finished in second place overall three times at the 24 Hours and will be the third man in the Ford GT with Joey Hand and Dirk Müller, as he already was at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in late January.

Like Dixon and Bourdais at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Billy Johnson and Harry Tincknell will compete in the 6 Hours of Silverstone, opening round of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) in 2016. The Brit, a winner in the Gibson 015S of Jota Sport, relaunched as G-Drive Racing, in the European Le Mans Series, will have a packed weekend in the U.K. with a round of the European championship on Saturday, April 16th and a race in the WEC on Sunday, April 17th. An endeavor he will not repeat at Spa since he will be at the wheel of the Ford GT for the final rehearsal before the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the ELMS will not make a stop in the Belgian Ardennes until September 25th.

No. 66 Ford (Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK): Stefan Mücke, Olivier Pla, Billy Johnson
No. 67 Ford (Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK): Marino Franchitti, Andy Priaulx, Harry Tincknell
No. 68 Ford (Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA): Joey Hand, Dirk Müller, Sébastien Bourdais
No. 69 Ford (Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA): Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook, Scott Dixon

Cécile Bonardel / ACO (quotation from Ford press release) - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

PHOTO: TURWESTON (BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, U.K.), MONDAY FEBRUARY 29 2016, TWEAKING. The Ford GT that will compete in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) during the tweaking session conducted by Marino Franchitti.