Kevin Magnussen and Marcus Ericsson to team up at Daytona

Former Formula 1 drivers Kevin Magnussen and Marcus Ericsson have entered the 24 Hours of Daytona with Chip Ganassi Racing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The team announced on Friday that they would expand their operations to two cars during the famous 24-hour race and for the entire season ahead, with the former Haas and Mclaren Magnussen rider having finished fifth with the team in last year’s edition of the event.

Magnussen teams up with former Sauber Ericsson driver in the No.02 Cadillac DPI at Daytona, with former Williams development driver Alex Lynn and two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Earl Bamber complete their roster for the 2022 season.

Pilot announcement 🚨

We are pleased to announce a full-time rider lineup for the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar DPi Championship and our Rolex 24 lineup! 🏎️ 🏁 @Cadillac // @ CadillacVPerfo1 // @IMSA pic.twitter.com/OvkUAsowz2

– Chip Ganassi Racing (@CGRTeams) January 7, 2022

The # 01 sister car will also have a former Formula 1 driver in the cockpit of former Toro Rosso driver Sébastien Bourdais, who won the Daytona 24 Hours in 2014 alongside Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa.

Ericsson has been racing for Ganassi since 2020 in IndyCar after leaving Formula 1, and finished sixth in the Championship in 2021 – and will now add WeatherTech SportsCars to his driving schedule in 2022.

Other pilots have also visited Daytona in the recent past, with Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris teaming up in 2018, while Alonso returned and took the winner’s trophy a year later.

Magnussen, who raced alongside his father Jan at Le Mans last season, has previously described the different mentality required to compete in endurance races compared to Formula 1, and he said there were many factors to take into account that would not be the case. in Formula 1.

“You have to look to the future so far,” he said. “In a Formula 1 race, we are more inclined to take risks at the start of the race when everyone is close together, for example.

“Whereas in a 24 hour race it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Throughout the race you find yourself in situations, say, with six hours left, and you feel like you’ve already had a long run, you feel like you’ve come to the end and you start fighting, then remember that there are still six hours left.

“So judging when to really take risks against other people is something I would say different, like the mentality of running against other people.”

The 24 Hours of Daytona will take place from January 29 to 30.