New Zealand IndyCar star Scott Dixon has confirmed he will have another crack at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year.
The four-time IndyCar champion will take a break from open-seater action to return to France in June for his second attempt at the famous endurance race.
He will be part of Chip Ganassi’s four-car campaign at Le Mans.
Dixon debuted at Le Mans last year as Ganassi launched its Ford GT program. Co-driving alongside sportscar veteran Richard Westbrook and former IndyCar driver Ryan Briscoe, Dixon finished third in the GTE Pro class and 20th overall.
Dixon is no stranger to endurance racing having twice won the Rolex 24 at Daytona in the United States.
Dixon is currently immersed in preparations for the IndyCar season which starts on March 12.
He’s facing some major changes there with Ganassi switching manufacturers from Chevrolet back to Honda in the offseason.
Dixon is also looking for a primary sponsor after long-time backer Target ended its deal with the famous red car.
He’s hoping the return to Honda will help his chances of winning another Indianapolis 500 after his 2008 success.
Honda have won 11 of the last 13 Indy 500s.
“Well, I’d like to think that, outside of ’16, we always have a pretty good shot at Indy,” Dixon told IndyCar.com.
“(2016) was very frustrating in the fact that we just really didn’t have the speed on the outside. But yeah, I think with what we saw, especially out of all the Hondas last year, they were very, very strong at Pocono and the Indy 500.
“I’m sure that came into partial thoughts of making the decision for the switch. Maybe, I don’t know. But there’s two things that we set goals for, and that’s to win the championship and win the Indianapolis 500. I hope that’s true.”
Dixon believes his title chances can be boosted if he gets out of the gates quickly in 2017. Slow starts have plagued him in recent seasons, leaving him in a game of catchup with the leading drivers, something he’s managed to do, especially in his last title in 2015 which came down to the last race of the season.
Dixon is this week involved in official IndyCar testing with his 20 full time rivals at the Phoenix raceway.
Dixon is the active leader among the current crop of drivers with 40 IndyCar wins.
