Cadillac Racing returns to Daytona Dec. 6-7

IMSA

Dec 2

Cadillac Racing returns to Daytona International Speedway Dec. 6-7 to begin preparations for the 62nd Rolex 24 At Daytona, which kicks off the second season of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring Prototype competition.

Both the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R and championship-winning No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R will work through test plans on the 3.56-mile, 12-turn course that incorporates sections of the high-banked oval.

The event, with four day/night sessions, is the only IMSA-sanctioned test before teams reconvene for the Jan. 20-22 Roar Before the 24, which includes qualifications. Ten Grand Touring Prototype teams are entered for the Jan. 28-29 marathon race.

“We’ll be taking all the lessons from 24 hours of racing this year and apply to see what we can do to get ready for next year,” GM sports car racing program manager Laura Wontrop Klauser said.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Rolex 24 at Daytona 2023. #01, #02 and #31 Cadillac V-Series.R placed third, fourth and fifth.

“One of the things that we’re excited about with our carryover program for ’24 is we’re able to focus on the car and understanding it more as well as making sure we have all the support on the GM and Dallara side ready to help the teams be successful,” Klauser added. “One of the most challenging things this year has been the lack of time. We’ve been running race to race to race, and we’d occasionally slip in a test. Really, it was our race schedule in 2023 that kept us busy, which was phenomenal because you can’t have a better test than a race to see what you can do with the car. So, it will be nice to be back at Daytona, focus on a test plan.”

Cadillac Racing Rolex 24 At Daytona roster

*📷 © Luc Warnotte at* 6 Hours of The Glen 2023. #01 Cadillac V-Series.R

#01 Cadillac V-Series.R: Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, Scott Dixon

Bourdais and van der Zande return for their third season as teammates. They won at Laguna Seca – raising their win total to four over two seasons -- opened the season with a third place in the Rolex 24 and closed with a runner-up finish in the Petit Le Mans. … Qualified fourth for the Rolex 24. … Six-time INDYCAR champion Dixon returns for the Rolex 24 and additional endurance races. … Combined, they have eight Rolex 24 victories. … The trio co-drove to fourth place overall in the centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. … Van der Zande has 19 IMSA victories, including nine with Cadillac Racing, and Bourdais has 11 IMSA wins.

Sebbastien Bourdais: “Toward the end of the season with the couple of tests we had, we started to learn more about the car and what makes it go and what doesn’t work. It’s just going to take time. People think we’ve had a lot of testing, but it was all centered toward homologation and reliability. We’re still really green on knowledge of the car as far as designing setups and getting performance out of it. Since we homologated the car, there’s really been little time to optimize it and understand it as far as finding that last half a second that’s a game-changer when you come to race weekends. It’s going to be a continuous learning process, trying to make numbers fall into place and validate the reads.”

Renger van der Zande: “Test days are helpful in understanding the car because we’re still developing the car, still optimizing the package. It’s a dream car to drive and a dream championship to be in.”

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

#31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R: Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken, Tom Blomqvist

2023 IMSA GTP championship- and IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup-winning team. … Driver title is the second for Derani. … Aitken, the ’23 endurance race driver, is on board for the full season. … Derani, Aitken and Alexander Sims co-drove to fifth place in the Rolex 24 in January after qualifying sixth. They won at Sebring International Raceway and were runners-up at Watkins Glen International. … Blomqvist drove to the Rolex 24 overall victory in 2023 and ’22 and was the 2022 IMSA DPi champion. He earned the pole for the race in January.

Pipo Derani: “Like any new car, you always want more testing, more practice time. Especially when it’s such a complex racecar with the hybrid and a complex car makes it for a longer road in terms of development. We’re a year and a bit into the development of this car but only just now starting to understand a few things that make sense to the setup and how we make this car go quicker. Still a lot to improve from everyone. We’ve done a strong job despite all the difficulties we had this season. It’s always a learning process and you have to be humble enough to know you have to continue that way if you want to succeed in this series.”

Jack Aitken: “We have a lot to work on and improve; I think that’s the case for everybody with these cars that are still so early in the development cycle that everybody is learning quickly. We’ve made massive gains through the season, but when you don’t have racing, it gives everybody the opportunity to breathe a little bit and the capacity to make some changes and updates and advancements. It’s going to be a busy period for us. The race to be ready for the Roar and Daytona will be pretty intense. Though it feels a long way from now, it will come around quickly.” Source: Cadillac Racing