Daytona Winner Olsen Has Appetite for WEC

Author of the winning overtake for Ford at Daytona, Dennis Olsen hopes to build on the firm's progress at the oval in WEC.

Published 01/02/2025 à 17:02

Valentin GLO

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Daytona Winner Olsen Has Appetite for WEC

Dennis Olsen, Frédéric Vervisch and Christopher Mies on the Daytona podium - © 2025 Michael L. Levitt

A few days before the resounding announcement of Ford's return to the premier class of WEC and 24 Hours of Le Mans In 2027, the Blue Oval experienced the joy of seeing its Mustang GT3 win its very first race at the 24 Hours of Daytona. After Mike Rockenfeller's pole position, it was finally the #65 of Christopher Mies, Frédéric Vervisch and Dennis Olsen that crossed the finish line victoriously in Florida in the GTD Pro category.

The Norwegian distinguished himself by overtaking for victory 38 minutes from the end, after a final restart of the race. He then defended his position perfectly against the Corvette of Alexander Sims.

« I have to say I was watching the rearview mirror at every turn to see if the Chevrolet was coming up on the inside ", explained Olsen after the finish. The 28-year-old driver thus started his second season in a Mustang GT3 in the best possible way, having participated in the entire 2024 WEC, punctuated by a class podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Mikkel Pedersen and Giorgio Roda.

Olsen will be the only one of this trio to start the 2025 World Championship season.Endurance, whose first race will be the 1812 km of Qatar on February 28. I am very happy to return to the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship at the wheel of the Mustang LMGT3, Olsen enthuses.. We've already seen in Daytona that we've made a lot of progress over the winter. Hopefully we can take the best out of that in this championship. »

« We have a new team line-up with Proton Competition, as well as new liveries. The cars look great and we can’t wait to come back, he adds. We finished third at Le Mans last year, so I want to do better. I want to win. We're going to give it our all! »

In this quest for victory in La Sarthe, the Norwegian will be accompanied on the n°88 by two new drivers: the Italians Stefano Gattuso (40 years old), who tested the car during the WEC Rookie Test in Bahrain in November, and Giammarco Levorato (21 years old).

The second Ford Mustang GT3, the No. 77, will be driven by Ben Barker. The 33-year-old Briton will be supported by his compatriot Ben Tuck and the Portuguese Bernardo Sousa, a former driver of rally.

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Valentin GLO

Journalist. Endurance reporter (WEC, IMSA, ELMS, ALMS) and sometimes F1 or IndyCar.

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