Magnussen father and son Le Mans pairing "difficult" but not impossible

Kevin Magnussen

Magnussen father and son Le Mans pairing "difficult" but not impossible

Kevin Magnussen is keeping his eye out for an opportunity to race alongside his father

Sam Hall

Monday 4 January 2021 13:30

Former Haas driver Kevin Magnussen has conceded it may now be difficult to fulfil his dream of racing alongside his father Jan in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Magnussen, who recently bowed out of Formula 1 after six seasons in the sport during which time he drove for McLaren, Renault and latterly Haas, has followed his father into sportscars.

The 28-year-old is to compete with Chip Ganassi Racing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for the coming year, whilst he is also due to take part in the Daytona 24 Hours later this month.

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Whilst the Dane drove in F1, Magnussen Snr continued racing as a factory Chevrolet driver in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, only for this relationship to end at the end of 2019.

According to Magnussen Jr, this has made a future link-up between father and son now problematic.

“We’ve always wanted to do it but it’s become more difficult now that my dad isn’t a factory driver," explained Kevin Magnussen.

"When he was a Corvette driver there were some opportunities to do it because Corvette could place me in the car for Le Mans.

"But it became impossible with just logistics and time because you need to prepare and also it’s difficult for Corvette to put one driver in the car for Le Mans and then not the same driver for the other big races they have also.

“Now that he’s not a factory driver we would have to do it in an LMP2 or a GTLM which is difficult because we are both platinum drivers and that can be difficult with these driver categories. It’s a bit complicated in terms of that."

Despite the obvious problems for the two to join forces, the former Haas driver refuses to give up hope on the possibility of racing alongside his father.

“I don’t know if we can do it now, racing and trying to get a good deal for myself and hopefully in a factory team in the future," added Magnussen.

"It could get tricky with my dad but we’ll always keep our eye open for a chance.”