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[h=2]Kanaan: 'People ask what's next in my career. I think it's obvious'[/h] Wednesday, 14 June 2017


David Phillips / Images by Erhardt, Galstad/LAT

Having enjoyed a front row seat as Fernando Alonso ticked a box on his bucket list at the Indianapolis 500, Tony Kanaan finds himself ticking a bucket list box of his own this week, namely the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT.

But where Alonso had never driven an IndyCar before the month of May, sports cars are nothing new to Kanaan. Recall that he teamed with Bryan Herta and Dario Franchitti to take an LMP2 class win in the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring and that he also won the 2015 Rolex 24 at Daytona for Chip Ganassi Racing (with Scott Dixon, Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray), not to mention that he drove the Ford GT in this year's Rolex 24 at Daytona before resuming his day job driving Ganassi's IndyCars.
So although he is a last-minute replacement for the injured Sebastian Bourdais, it's not as if Kanaan is new to the team or the game.
"I'm familiar with the organization of course, in fact a couple of the guys on my car used to work on my IndyCar," says Kanaan. "And I've driven sports car races before. Of course, people recognize me as an IndyCar guy, but if you look at the statistics, I actually have a better winning percentage in sports cars. And I like it here. People ask me what's next in my career, and I think it's obvious."
The one big unknown is the challenging 8.469 miles of tarmac that make up the Circuit de la Sarthe. Although Kanaan went through the now-traditional rookie orientation by driving the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's simulator this week, he knows the acclimation process has just begun – and that it will be all the more challenging given that he must share his seat time with co-drivers (and defending GTE-Pro Le Mans winners) Joey Hand and Dirk Muller.
"I've done a 24 hour race in this car [at Daytona, pictured], but the track is new to me," he says. "The simulator helped; at least know I need to turn to the right when I leave the pits! Other than that, I'll have to rely on track time in practice and qualifying. To do 15 laps before the race will be... a lot. But it is what it is. I'll get a lot of laps in the race."
Kanaan won't be the only "accomplished" rookie at Le Mans this year. Long-time friend Rubens Barichello is ticking Le Mans on his bucket list as well, making his debut in the Racing Team Nederlands LMP2 Dallara.
"We've been so close for a long time; [Rubens] is almost my brother," he says, "It's pretty cool that we'e rookies at Le Mans in the same year . . . and he's older than me, so that's even better."