These 4 race car drivers are going to try to repeat history at Le Mans in 2016 for Ford

It was 50 years ago that Ford made history at the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race.

Going up against Ferrari in June of 1966, Ford brought three teams to the famed Circuit de la Sarthe. They left with an epic 1-2-3 victory that remains the stuff of legend. And they did in an equally legendary car: the Ford GT.

At the New York Auto Show in January 2015, Ford revealed an all new GT supercar. Soon after, the company announced that it would be returning to Le Mans, with a team run by Chip Ganassi Racing.

Now we know who will be driving the cars on the European leg of the campaign, in the FIA World Endurance Championship: four guys with some pretty high expectations to live up to.

(For the North America-based IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Ford and Ganassi already named the team members: Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook, Dirk Müller and Joey Hand. The plan is for a total of four GTs to converge a Le Mans for a combined effort to return Ford to glory at that race.)

Marino Franchitti is the younger brother of 3-time Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti and a veteran of endurance racing. Stefan Mücke is also an experienced endurance racer. Olivier Pla has raced a Le Mans, and Andy Priaulx has podiumed at Le Mans.

Endurance racing is just about the most challenging test in all of motorsports. Le Mans is the biggest stage. These four men are in for some incredible adventures behind the wheel.