This year's 24 Hours of Le Mans features 19 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers, several series executives, and Circuit de la Sarthe team personnel.

The best American sports car series attend one of the world's most important races every year, but their presence at the 90th edition of Le Mans is just as vital for the future as it is now.

Renger van der Zande, the driver of the No. 01 DPi Cadillac, contacted Chip Ganassi Racing after receiving an invitation to compete in the GTE-Am category at Le Mans. Permission was granted eagerly because his participation is seen as a benefit for Ganassi's anticipated 2023 Le Man victory.

"This is a preparation year," van der Zande commented a few days before flying to France with colleague Sebastien Bourdais after winning the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic in Detroit. "(Team members of Ganassi) all stated the same thing: 'Go there.'"

Garage 56 updates: Testing with the Next-Gen Camaro for Le Mans is underway.

"See what the rules changes are from one year to the next," says the entry list for 2022. It'll be thrilling to be in a GT, looking in my mirrors and seeing people pass me. It'll be a tussle for the overall victory next year, and I can't wait to start with that new Cadillac.

We'll be working on it on track very soon; a fascinating project. That is my primary aim this year, other than the IMSA championship. That development work to win Daytona, Sebring, and Le Mans is a dream come true. It's great to be able to attend this year."

The United States will have a significant presence at Le Mans next year. The Garage 56 entry will include a NextGen Camaro built by Hendrick Motorsports and NASCAR, in addition to IMSA teams such as Penske and Ganassi racing prototypes against the hypercars of the World Endurance Championship.

Due to this, many people from the United States sports car business — including several prominent NASCAR figures — have relocated to other countries.

Chad Knaus, Hendrick Motorsports' vice president of competition, has been in Le Mans since last weekend to monitor garage inspection processes. He also calls strategy for the No. 48 Cadillac, including seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson.

 IMSA's delegation for Le Mans will comprise at least a dozen people working on Garage 56 in preparation. Doonan leads an IMSA delegation to Le Mans annually for discussions with the Automobile Club de L'Ouest (ACO), which organises and oversees the race.

We'll have several people performing a site visit in preparation for 2023, including representatives from Hendrick Motorsports, Goodyear, and Chevy, "But there are a few more people involved in the Garage 56 initiative," Doonan told NBC Sports. "A lot of prelim and prerun activities from a logistics aspect to a garage setup standpoint to meeting with suppliers so that everything is in place when we get the official invitation in January (for Garage 56)." We'll have a large contingent over there.

While Garage 56 will be a massive endeavour, the prototype convergence that will pit the LMDh cars (which will race in IMSA's redesigned top division called GTP next year) against the WEC hypercars for the overall Le Man's title in 2023 will take even longer.

Since the 2020 introduction of LMDh, manufacturer investment has increased, and IMSA and NASCAR chairman Jim France has compared the crossover to the era that inspired "Ford vs Ferrari."

Team Penske, which has since become a factory Porsche team, will compete in the top category next year but is currently competing in the LMP2 class at Le Mans.

Tim Cindric, Team Penske's president, came to France immediately after Will Power's IndyCar triumph in Detroit last Sunday to practise and qualify. Cindric planned to return to Road America for IndyCar practice today, following a train ride to Paris and a fly to America.

His scouting trip was about studying the Le Man's off-track rhythm, which is noted for its enormous festival parties and sponsor activation.

Cindric said the hospitality and ambience requirements are so high that "they build buildings specifically for this race." "It's less about the garage and the race cars than about how to help all of the people and the village." Porsche has been doing it for years, but you'll need to tweak it to meet our programme. I'm coming this year because I want to be able to talk from experience rather than being a rookie. We've hired locals who have worked with Porsche for a long time.

We've gained a lot of knowledge about how things work.

I've never been to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. I've always stated that I'll go to Le Mans if I don't have anything else to do. I'm not a big lover of races.

For the second year in a row, Knaus is racing at Le Mans. Gary Nelson, the team manager for Action Express, the defending DPi championship squad and also assisting on Garage 56, is another regular at Le Mans.

There will also be a large number of drivers who will return with new information. In addition to van der Zande, Bourdais and JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac driver Tristan Vautier compete in the LMP2 class (who is making his Le Mans debut).

And then there's Corvette Racing, which took the top two qualifying slots for the GTE Pro grid (with IMSA full-timers Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor starting second in the No. 63 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R).

Other famous IMSA drivers at Le Mans include Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor, Felipe Nasr, Oliver Jarvis, Alex Lynn, Pipo Derani, Olivier Pla, and Richard Westbrook.

Despite Ganassi's GT experience (he won the class in 2016 with a Ford Mustang), van der Zande said, "whatever information I can receive is useful," including surveillance from colleagues Bourdais and Lynn, who race in LMP2.

When we get with the top class next year, there will be enough eyes open to learning," van der Zande added. "I utilise it for my benefit to acquire a sense of how it feels to overtake GT vehicles, those minor subtleties and track changes that may be present on the curbs." When driving a different car on various track areas, you may see or feel a bump that you overlooked in the other car, and you learn from it when you return. Jumping about in different vehicles and getting a feel for different lines on the track is usually beneficial.

I see it as a fun race weekend and a good warm-up for when we return (in 2023)."