Alex Wurz postponed retirement to fulfil Daytona 24 Hours ambition

The two-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner, , revealed that he had accepted the offer to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing in the US classic on January 30/31 because he wanted "to tick a box".

"Daytona was a race that was always on my list to do, but I was never able to do it because it clashed with winter testing," Wurz told .

"Chip Ganassi rang me on the day I announced my retirement and when I told him I was stopping, he said, 'fair enough, but you could do one more race'.

"I'm still fit and not so busy, so it kind of made sense."

The decision was made easier, Wurz explained, by the fact that Williams development driver Lance Stroll was going to be one of his team-mates.

Wurz is an advisor to the board of the British Formula 1 team.

Wurz and Stroll will be joined in one of two Ganassi Riley-Ford EcoBoost DPs entered for Daytona by Andy Priaulx, who is set to be announced as part of Ford's World Endurance Championship GTE assault under the Ganassi banner next week, and WEC champion and Daytona regular Brendon Hartley.

The Daytona appearance will be a one-off for Wurz, who stressed that he had no other racing plans.

He explained that there were no other races on his bucket list, although he does have the desire to try rallycross.

"There are no other boxes to tick apart from rallycross, because I want to see what my father did," he said.

Franz Wurz was a multiple title winner in the European Rallycross Championship in the 1970s and '80s.

Wurz Jr called time on his racing career at the end of a four-year stint with Toyota in the WEC and will continue with the Japanese manufacturer in an advisory role.