Tony Kanaan to replace Bourdais at Le Mans 24 Hours race

By AP
Published

LE MANS, France (AP) Tony Kanaan will replace injured driver Sebastien Bourdais on the defending class winning team at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Bourdais teamed with Joey Hand and Dirk M�ller to drive the No. 68 Ford for Chip Ganassi Racing to the GTE Pro Class victory last season. The Le Mans native broke his pelvis, a hip and two ribs in a crash at Indianapolis during qualifying for the Indy 500.

It will be Kanaan's debut at Le Mans, a bucket race for most drivers.

Kanaan has significant time in Ganassi's sports cars and was part of the overall winning team at the Rolex 24 at Daytona with Scott Dixon, Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson in a Ford EcoBoost prototype in 2015.

But it's the first time he will be paired with Hand and Muller, who along with Bourdais won Daytona this year, as well.

Kanaan has been in the Ford GT this year and led laps in Rolex 24 as the Brazilian teamed with Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell to finish fifth in GTLM.

Ford estimates Kanaan spent seven hours, 30 minutes in the car at Daytona and was the third-quickest driver in the category, behind Ganassi teammates Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe.

Kanaan expects to get about three hours of simulator work before he heads to France for the June race.

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