📷 © Luc Warnotte at The Glen 2023. #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R

Pipo Derani will share driving duties of the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R with Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken. The No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R won at Sebring, has two other podium finishes and has placed in the top five in six of the eight races.

Transcript of Q&A with Derani, who will celebrate his birthday Oct. 12 at the racetrack:

How much are you looking forward to this race and what will it take to stay atop the standings when the checkered flag falls?

“It has bene a crazy season for everyone. Quite honestly, it’s inconsistency that has led to every one of us being within five points of each other. I think IMSA and the fans couldn’t have asked for more in this new era of GTP racing. I think everyone feels like they’ve left quite a lot on the table at times.

"We won a race that maybe we shouldn’t have won, but we gave up two or three other possible race wins with mistakes and errors. The other cars could potentially say the same thing, which is amazing because we know the level of the championship, we know the level of the teams and manufacturers. So, to think that we come to the last race within five points of each other is incredible. To have the four manufacturers fighting for the championship in the first year of GTP is fantastic. What is it going to take for us to win? Having been involved in the championship fight and having been involved in a race win situation at Petit Le Mans, everything can come down to the wire. There are so many things that can happen during a 10-hour race, especially with those GTP cars that are very complex. You have to go through 10 hours of racing before you can think about a championship, so it’s going to be exciting. There’s also the endurance championship that we are leading as well. It’s going to be interesting for everyone, but obviously it’s going to be a dogfight at the end. Being so close it only means that you have to be ahead. There’s no playing games. There’s no math. It’s very simple. You have to be ahead. It’s going to be an eye-catcher will attract many fans because not only do we have a fight for the championship, but we have four cars fighting for the championship.”

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Rolex 24 at Daytona 2023. #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R

What importance are you placing on qualifying position in the championship in case the points make a difference in the race?

“I think it’s so tight that I don’t believe qualifying would make much of a difference unless we all finish toward the back. Obviously, we want to qualify the best we can to take any advantage because we’ve seen in the past that any point matters. But being so close, I don’t think it would make any difference. If it gives you a little help knowing that your car is quick down 10 hours of racing, then I think it’s what you want. If you can’t make a difference with points at least you know your car is quick despite knowing that the race will most likely be different at the end when it’s dark. We always want to qualify well, but I don’t think it would make much of a difference this time around compared to when we fought for the championship in 2021 that the pole position eventually made a difference in the end.”

Does this feel the same or how does it differ from 2021?

“There has been a massive amount of effort from all the manufacturers in such a short period of time to build and develop the GTP cars that are very complex and so much learning in just a few months before we went racing. You want to make sure you were the first one to bring a championship home. I personally am going to go into this race thinking that anything can happen because when you look at how tight the fight is, you do the best that you can and hope it’s enough in the end. There are so many things that can happen with so many cars on the same fight that there’s not much that you can control aside from doing the best that you can. I’ve won the championship in ’21; no one can take out from me. If I’m lucky to win another one, especially fighting against so many great teams and drivers, it would be extremely special to bring a trophy home.”

📷 © Luc Warnotte at 12 Hours of Sebring 2023. #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R

What adjustments can you make in the cockpit during the race and how you work with the team?

“It has been a massive learning curve for everyone. The amount of tools that you have is sometimes overwhelming. You can make so many changes that can either help or take you in a completely opposite direction, especially when you are trying to deal with all the changes in the middle of traffic, slower categories. It’s a level of complexity that those cars have brought into the championship that adds even more to the race and to the final result most likely. We have been in constant development of software things that could potentially make a difference in the end. Cold tires have been quite something this year where we’ve seen lots of accidents and we’re trying constantly to improve things that we have under our control to make situations like that a little bit easier. I think everyone would have liked more testing, would have liked more understanding. But the more we go the more we understand, the more we come to grips with those software integrations. It makes things more complicated, more thinking behind the wheel. But it also makes it more interesting for the engineers and in the end it brings everyone closer together. So, it’s something to keep an eye on in this race that starts in the day and finishes in the night. Those little tweaks could end up making a difference.”

How much different of a car is it racing now than it was at Daytona?

“When you look at Cadillac, we seem to be on more on the steady improvements. The car, quite honestly, is not too different from Daytona but there have been improvements on the software side and integration and how we operate the tools we have available. It’s been a long process and I believe the regulations allowed cars to be born on a similar level, but I would say the Cadillac was born with a strong base that we have been able to slowly chip improvements out of the car. I think the biggest factor is how jelled the team is in terms of understanding what we need from the car and being able to apply those changes in a positive way to find those little improvements. I don’t believe we have made a massive step. In our side of the garage, I believe we have been more on a steady progress, understanding how to extract more pace from the car. I’m quite happy with how we have improved. I believe there is still more we could extract from the car, but that’s going to come with time. The philosophy of our program is to continue to develop what we believe is quite a strong base.”

📷 © Luc Warnotte at 6 Hours of The Glen 2023. #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R

Is it a good thing that the championship culminates with such a tough race?

“It just brings an extra element to a championship fight. It’s a short but very quick racetrack. We are much quicker than some other classes in parts of the track, which makes it difficult overtaking those slower classes. It’s also very physically demanding on the driver and the car because of how quick it is, bumps all around. So, it just makes an extra element of stress, of difficulty for a championship fight. If you go through all that and come out with the championship, it’s pretty rewarding knowing you finished a very tough season with a tough race and won the championship.”

It seems every year at the Motul Petit Le Mans it’s dramatic at the end. What do you expect this year?

“Everyone (among the contenders) wished they got to this point in a much better situation. All of us have had moments in the season that we felt like we gave everything and came up P6 in the race and you feel like you threw away so many points. Having lived the championship throughout and having seen how things have changed – gave up and gained – at times, I don’t expect anything different than a chaotic finish as it’s bene in the past. We have seen in the past some trends in terms of cars being strong at different parts of the race. Also this year, we have seen some of the trends in DPi – whether it was Acura strong at one type of racetrack and Cadillac at another – we have seen those being washed out. So, it’s a big question mark going into this last race who will be strong at the end. You might believe you do something during the week that will help you towards the end of the race and toward the end of the race the temperature might be a little bit different than the Thursday night practice and now the car behaves completely different as those tires are very unpredictable and temperature sensitive. There are so many variables that we’ve seen throughout the year that can make the difference that I don’t expect the end of the championship to be something other than stressful for everyone involved. It’s a privilege to be fighting in a championship that is this strong with so many contenders, so many manufacturers. It’s going to be a fantastic event for the fans because I don’t think you can ask for anything more.”

Source: Cadillac Racing

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