Footballer Del Piero, Actor Dempsey Hatch Plans For U.S. Le Mans Team

Italian football player ALESSANDRO DEL PIERO and American TV actor PATRICK DEMPSEY "are planning to create excitement in one of the world's most famous motor races," according to Fogarty & Lynch of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Del Piero, currently the "marquee player" for A-League Sydney FC, has joined forces with Dempsey, the "main attraction" of hit drama Grey's Anatomy, to enter a team in this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car endurance classic in France. The pair has formed Dempsey/Del Piero Racing, a U.S. team that will also contest the American Le Mans Series. Del Piero said, "I have had a passion for motor sport since I was a young boy growing up in Italy" (SMH, 1/23). The AAP noted Del Piero and Dempsey's team will field three drivers in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race: Dempsey and veteran U.S. racers JOE FOSTER and MICHAEL AVENATTI. It "remains unclear who will drive in the ALMS series," but it "is not expected" Del Piero will drive in either (AAP, 1/22).