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Bell podiums, Ford Ganassi IndyCar stars end midpack at Le Mans

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The 85th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans proved to be a challenging race for representatives from the Verizon IndyCar Series. However, one did finish on the podium in his class, while all four of them saw the checkered flag at the end.

The best finishing in class was NBCSN IndyCar analyst Townsend Bell, who finished on the podium in the GTE Am class in the No. 62 WeatherTech-backed Ferrari 488 GTE for Scuderia Corsa.

With co-drivers Cooper MacNeil and Bill Sweedler, the trio managed to avoid a lot of the chaos that surrounded this year’s Le Mans to emerge third in class (30th overall), with the car never having significant issues at any point during the 24-hour endurance race.

Of note: this marks the third consecutive class podium for Bell and Sweedler, who also won last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans in the GTE Am class, while MacNeil scored his first ever podium at the endurance classic.

“Wow, what a race,” Bell said. “I spent a lot of time in the car over the 24 hours. The car was nearly as good at the end as it was when I started it. Thanks to WeatherTech for being with us this weekend and to the whole Scuderia Corsa crew and the team from Kessel. We had a great combination of drivers and support here all week.”

Sweedler added, “It is magical to get here again and do well. Three runs here and three podiums, two third place finishes and a win is incredible. The WeatherTech Racing Ferrari was incredible. The Scuderia Corsa team did a great job. Townsend did monster stints and Cooper did a great job as well. What a day!”

Of his maiden Le Mans podium, MacNeil said, “We ran a really clean race. We only had a couple of minor issues all race. I ran clean and didn’t put a wheel wrong all and that is how you have to run here at Le Mans. We gave it all we had. We ran to plan, did the stops and driver changes and ran our race. We kept it clean and the great work from the Scuderia Corsa and Kessel guys got us up on the podium. The WeatherTech Racing Ferrari ran great the entire 24 hours.”

Ford Chip Ganassi Racing saw two of its IndyCar stars make the trip over, with Tony Kanaan taking Sebastien Bourdais’ place in the No. 68 driver lineup, joining defending GTE Pro winners Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller, while Scott Dixon partnered Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe in the No. 69.

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Photo: Ford Performance

With GTE Pro proving the most intense of the four classes, the Ford GTs stayed in contention for much of the race, but ultimately faded at the end despite finishing on the same lap as the winning No. 97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8.

Kanaan managed to finish sixth in class (23rd overall), with Dixon right behind him (seventh in class, 24th overall).

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Photo: Ford Performance

Mueller described the race, and Kanaan’s debut, for the No. 68 entry: “Congratulations to the No. 67 crew for a fantastic second-place finish,” Müller said. “We know how it feels to make it on to the podium. It’s a good feeling. We were hit with so many things during the race. Joey did a good job and definitely Tony Kanaan. (Adding him to the lineup) was such a rush. We arrived here on Tuesday morning and from that moment on it all went so fast. He gave everything for us and we made a good team.”

In the prototype ranks, Mikhail Aleshin joined Sergey Sirotkin and Viktor Shaytar in the No. 37 Dallara P217 Gibson for SMP Racing. After suffering mechanical problems, the no. 37 car could do no better than 17th in class (34th overall) after falling 36 laps behind the winning No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca 07 Gibson. However, Aleshin, Sirotkin, and Shaytar did complete the 24-hour distance, despite their problems.

Follow Kyle Lavigne.