Palou will move across from Ganassi’s IndyCar Series squad for the centrepiece round of the World Endurance Championship on 15/16 June to drive the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh alongside car regulars Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn.
The news was announced by Cadillac immediately after the publication of the full 62-car Le Mans entry list, which included a TBC in Ganassi’s full-season WEC entry.
Palou makes the move into the Caddy for Le Mans after a second outing with his employer in this year’s Daytona 24 Hours, the opening round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
It was the 26-year-old Spaniard’s maiden race outing in the V-Series.R after a previous Daytona appearance in 2022 aboard one of the team’s DPi-V.R Daytona Prototype internationals.
Team boss Chip Ganassi hinted at a possible involvement for Palou at Le Mans over the course of the Daytona event.
He revealed that the IndyCar driver had “slipped right back in” to sportscar duties in the car he shared with Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande and Scott Dixon.
“Going to Le Mans is an amazing opportunity and a big challenge, as well,” said Palou.
“It is one of the biggest races alongside the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona where you want to participate but also win.
“We have a chance to win it overall, and that is our biggest goal.”
Ganassi and Cadillac’s decision to attack the regular six-hours WEC races with a two-driver line-up made up of Bamber and Lynn led to speculation about the identity of their team-mate for Le Mans.
Ganassi has called in Bourdais to share with Bamber and Lynn in next month’s WEC season-opener, the Qatar 1812Km 10-hour race, and is expected to utilise van der Zande for the eight-hour curtain-closer in Bahrain in November.
Ganassi and Cadillac had to look beyond them because it has now had confirmation of its second entry.
This is the car undertaking a full IMSA campaign with Bourdais and van der Zande driving all the races and Dixon joining them for the enduros.
They were confirmed as the line-up for Le Mans with the publication of the entry list on Monday.
Had Ganassi not gained the additional entry, one of those would have likely moved across to its full WEC entry.
That explains why the team didn’t submit the paperwork for the extra entry with Palou’s name on it and therefore his absence from the entry list.
Palou will be unable to take part in the Le Mans Test Day the weekend ahead of the race because it clashes with the Road America IndyCar fixture, but a change of date for a test at Milwaukee in the week of the 24 Hours will allow him to be in place in France by the start of free practice on Wednesday.
The second additional Cadillac fielded by Action Express Racing so far only has regular drivers Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken listed against it.
Meyer Shank Racing IndyCar racer Tom Blomqvist is the team’s nominated driver for the IMSA enduros, but a statement from Cadillac said that the third driver for Le Mans will be named at a later date.
