Ford Chip Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon has zero concerns about his fitness heading into this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans despite carrying a foot injury sustained in an accident at the Indianapolis 500 two weeks ago.
Dixon suffered one of the biggest Indy 500 crashes in recent year when his car flew high into the air before smashing into the barrier after contact at high-speed, leaving only the survival cell of his Dallara DW12 chassis without damage.
The Kiwi was able to emerge from his car seemingly unharmed, only to later find that he had injured his left foot.
He opted to return to racing just six days later in Detroit, and has taken part in three IndyCar races since his crash and his trip to Le Mans, having missed the test day due to the double-header in Detroit.
“[I’m feeling] not too bad,” Dixon told Sportscar365. “My foot is still sore. It’s going to be four or five weeks before it’s back to normal.
“But all in all, just very lucky after being in that scenario and how the car crashed and hit. Just lucky, man, super lucky.”
To add insult to injury, Dixon crashed out of Saturday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, hitting two cars and the wall, but the shunt did not cause any extra problems.
“It banged my foot again, but nothing like it was,” Dixon said. “So I don’t think it’s anything to delay recovery or cause more problems. It’s one of those things.”
While Dixon’s foot will not get any respite with a packed week of track action in the No. 69 Ford GT, he has no concerns about his fitness for Le Mans.
“No, I don’t think so. Le Mans in itself has such long straights, there’s a lot of recovery time,” he said.
“Especially with a GT car, the loading is not super-high compared to the IndyCar.
“You always want to be 100 per cent, but I don’t think it’s going to be a problem as far as speed or endurance are concerned.”
