This year, racing fans will witness the 91st 24 Hours of Le Mans, which has something special in store for all NASCAR faithful. In an effort to boost NASCAR’s international presence, a modified Cup car will be a part of this year’s event under the Garage 56 banner.

Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports, and Goodyear were recruited as partners for the project, and John Doonan was asked to be the project leader of the effort. Doonan is a former director of motorsports at Mazda, North America, and is not playing a vital role in the success of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA).

Garage 56 Boss John Doonan Is Striving to Make the Dream of NASCAR’s Founder Come True.

In 1976, NASCAR was very popular in South America, but Bill France wanted to expand the sport on a global level. However, the cars at that time were not able to perform at that level. Now, after all these years, in collaboration with the Goodyear tire company, Chevrolet, and the highly decorated team Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR aims to make their presence known at Le Mans.

The chosen drivers for the task are Jimmie Johnson, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Jenson Button, the 2009 Formula 1 world champion, and Mike Rockenfeller, a versatile sports car ace, and a two-time Le Mans winner.

During an interview uploaded by Sportscar365, Doonan, as the project leader, discussed their presence at Le Mans test day. Having turned a lot of heads with their competitive car, he said, “I think the sports car racing community knows we’re here now. Not only because of the noise. Not only because of the way to Hendrick Motorsports team looks with all of our partners. But also how we performed at the pitstop for the challenge yesterday.”

“So candidly, I came in as did most of the team and partners cautiously optimistic from a reliability standpoint but they go out and do what we did on Sunday, run as many laps as we do, without issue and put the car at 350 which is right where the ACO talked about our performance being. So cautious optimism, but now maybe beyond expectations.”

He concluded, “I think from an amount of time on track we feel pretty good, but here you know based on your experience and all of your viewers and listeners on sportscar365, Anything Can Happen Here“

Read More: ‘This Is a Proper Racecar!”: Jenson Button Blown Away by NASCAR’s First Le Mans Entry as He Takes It for a Spin

John Doonan Shares the Emotions Behind the Le Mans Project

John Doonan has played a vital role in the tremendous success of IMSA and before that, Mazda. Similarly, he is looking forward to achieving similar acclaim with this project.

This project holds a deep emotional attachment for him. As per imsa.com, he expressed, “I feel like I’m back in the race team side of the sport, and a huge part of me is going to miss this project when we reach the checkered flag on Sunday, June 11,” Doonan said.

“I grew up at the racetrack; I’ve been a racer all my life. This project gave me a chance to go back to rooting for a specific car in a race, so it’s given me a little boost of energy and excitement to be back on that side.” He further expressed how lucky he felt upon getting a chance to lead this project.

Only time will tell how well this project is going to end for the Legends.

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