Kanaan to Ganassi, ESPYs, Formula E, Race of Champions

IndyCar has the weekend off but drivers were still making news this week.

Tony Kanaan to Ganassi
In 2008, we all thought Tony Kanaan was heading to Ganassi Racing before he made a last minute change and returned to Andretti Green Racing. Five years later, the 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner is heading to Ganassi Racing to team with American Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters driver Joey Hand in the #02 BMW Daytona Prototype in next week's Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Kanaan will return to the Speedway just two months after winning the Indianapolis 500 in his twelfth career start in the famed race. Hand is in his second season of DTM and scored a career best fifth place finish earlier this year at Brands Hatch. He finished seventh at the Norisring last week, has twenty-two points and sits tenth in the championship. Hand was one of the overall winner in the 2011 24 Hours of Daytona and finished third in the GTE Pro class in the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Brickyard Grand Prix will take place July 26th.

And the ESPY for Best Driver Goes To...
Ryan Hunter-Reay. The IndyCar driver snagged the Best Driver ESPY away from fellow IndyCar driver Tony Kanaan, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski and triple World Drivers' champion Sebastian Vettel. Hunter-Reay is the fourth IndyCar driver to take the award joining the likes of Nigel Mansell, Al Unser, Jr. and Jimmy Vasser.

Andretti Autosport to Formula E
Andretti Autosport will broaden their racing platform in 2014 when they field an entry in the inaugural FIA Formula E Championship. Formula E will involved electric powered cars competing on street races around the world. Ten cities have already been announced as hosts for the 2014-15 schedule and they include Rio de Janerio, Rome, London, Berlin, Putrajaya, Bangkok, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles and Miami. Andretti Autosport joins Drayson Racing and China Racing as the only confirmed teams for the inaugural season. The first Formula E season is scheduled to take place from September 2014 to June 2015.

Race of Champions
The 2013 Race of Champions will return to Bangkok, Thailand and Rajamangala Stadium. Last year, Formula One driver Romain Grosjean won the Race of Champions while the German pairing of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel took their sixth consecutive Nations Cup. IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay took part with 2012 Production World Rally Champion Benito Guerra of Mexico competing as Team Americas.

Field Fillers
Mike Conway will substitute for Ryan Briscoe at the American Le Mans Series race this weekend at Mosport. Briscoe broken his wrist in a turn five accident during the first race from Toronto.