24 H. of Le Mans 2023: Garage 56 - A galactic crew in the Nascar?

It is sure to be one of the highlights of the centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Lined up in Garage 56 - initially reserved for a vehicle with a brand new technology - and therefore not classified, a Nascar-regulated Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 NextGen will share the track with cars from the Hypercar, LMP2 and GTE classes.

A car wich will be run by an association between Action Express Racing and Hendrick Motorsports, overseen by IMSA SportsCar Championship Director John Doonan. But who will be behind the wheel?

A few days ago, a journalist from the AP Sports news agency gave a little more credibility to the rumour that this Stock Car will be driven by two former stars of the premier discipline of motorsport on the other side of the Atlantic and a winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The latter is of course Mike Rockenfeller, who was seen testing the car at Michelin Road Atlanta Raceway. Rocky' has ten starts at La Sarthe, including a win in 2010 in an Audi R15 plus shared with Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas and a GT2 win in 2005 in a BAM Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3-RSR.

The 38-year-old German could be supported by Jimmie Johnson, who was his team-mate in this year's Michelin Endurance Cup (IMSA) and with whom he recently finished third in the Petit Le Mans in an Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. But the 47-year-old American is best known for having taken the crown seven times in Nascar. A surprise? Not really when you know that the car's engineer is simply the crew chief of all his successes: Chad Knaus.

As for the third man, it could be Jeff Gordon (51 years old) who has four times won the top class of Nascar and who won the 2017 24 Hours of Daytona in a Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.

This will certainly attract the attention of a good number of Americans to the Sarthe prefecture, who will also be able to enjoy the duel in Hypercar between Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing, who will respectively defend the official interests of Porsche and Cadillac.