Racing lines: Alex Lynn chases the dream at Daytona

Ganassi has two Cadillac DPis entered. One is driven by reigning Indycar Series champion Álex Palou; six-time Indycar champion Scott Dixon; all-rounder Sébastien Bourdais; and the experienced Renger van der Zande. Lynn shares the #02 with ex-F1 stars Kevin Magnussen and Marcus Ericsson and two-time Le Mans winner Earl Bamber, and he’s raring to go after sampling Daytona in testing.

“Daytona looks simple, but it’s really not,” he says. “There are only six real corners, but you’re racing against guys who have done the race up to 20 times and have perfected every corner. Coming in for the first time, you must work hard to get up to their level.

“This is a race that I’ve come close to doing in the past and have really wanted to do, so to finally get the chance, especially with this team, is really cool. It’s the last big race in the endurance world that I haven’t done, and I’m really pumped to try to win a Rolex…”

Chasing the big wins

Lynn already has a Sebring 12 Hours victory to his name, following a successful one-off cameo with Wayne Taylor Racing in 2017, and now his target is to add Daytona, Le Mans, the Nürburgring 24 Hours (in which he also hopes to race this year) and more to his career tally.

What’s significant about his chance with Ganassi is the longer view for next year and beyond, when the new LMDh category kicks in. The team will run Cadillac’s global programme, including Le Mans as well as IMSA, taking on Acura, Alpine, Audi, BMW and Penske’s Porsches, plus the parallel LMH lot of Glickenhaus, Peugeot, Toyota and the most exciting returnee of them all: Ferrari. It’s going to be mind-bogglingly competitive, and Lynn has already ensured that he will be right in the thick of it.

His split from Mahindra at the end of the last Formula E season was a surprise, not least, it seems, to he himself. But when we spoke to him last year, he was already talking about collecting big sports car wins as his true calling. 

“The landscape has changed and sports car racing is really on the rise,” says Lynn, who already has a Le Mans class win to his name (GTE Pro for Aston Martin in 2020). “When I sat back and looked at what I want to achieve in my career, it’s winning the big sports car races overall, in the top category, that counts. I did have opportunities to stay in Formula E, but this is what I want.”

United he stands

The Ganassi programme allows Lynn – son of historics racer Shaun – to embark on what he describes as an “adventure” around the US and its wonderfully open and friendly racing scene. But the United Autosport drive is a big deal too, taking him back to the WEC, in which he raced a GTE Pro Aston Martin Vantage AMR from 2018 to 2020.

A record 39 cars will line up in the WEC this year, 15 of them in the LMP2 class – all of which are strong and include Penske, which is using the season to prepare for its Porsche LMDh campaign next year.

“There’s a lot of top drivers,” says Lynn. “You can tell everyone is vying for LMDh, to put themselves in the shop window. I’m excited, fully focusing on my career to maximise everything, especially in this 12-month period. It will be busy, a lot of air miles, but it’s an adventure. I’m 28, I have good experience and I still have my youthful speed! It’s a nice time to really try and achieve some big things.”