Cadillac preps for WEC season at Prologue

Cadillac Racing enters its second season of FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Hypercar competition March 2 with the Qatar Airways Qatar 1812 Km at Lusail International Circuit.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Spa-Francorchamps 2023.

Four test sessions totaling 14 hours should provide No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R drivers Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Sebastien Bourdais and the team valuable data and insight into navigating the 5.148-kilometer (3.37-mile), 16-turn road course during the race the following weekend. The venue, which also hosts rounds of Formula 1 and the MotoGP World Championship, is new to the WEC calendar and the Cadillac Racing drivers.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Monza 2023.

“Being able to race in the WEC with Cadillac has been an amazing opportunity,” GM sports car racing program manager Laura Wontrop Klauser said. “We have a lot of learn still and I’d say our biggest challenge in the program is getting to know that series and the different tracks, especially new ones like Qatar and Brazil, this year. We enjoy that challenge and are looking forward to growing and getting stronger in 2024.”

Highlighting Cadillac Racing’s inaugural WEC season was the third-place finish in the centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans. The podium at the endurance classic was the first for Cadillac Racing, which returned to Circuit de la Sarthe after a 21-year absence. The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R, driven by Bamber, Lynn and Richard Westbrook, started the season with top-five finishes at Sebring, Portimão and Spa-Francorchamps.

📷 © Courtesy of Porsche.

Bourdais, co-driver of the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class, adds another layer of experience to the program for the season-opening round. Bourdais, a four-time CART champion among other motorsport accolades, co-drove the No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R to fourth place overall in the centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans last June. Mostly recently, he qualified second for the 62nd Rolex 24 At Daytona that secured a front row lockout for Cadillac Racing. Announcing Bourdais for Round 1

The Chip Ganassi Racing-run team tested in December in Spain following the conclusion of the seven-race season in Bahrain.

“We know where our strengths are and we’re working on optimizing our strengths to get the best results possible,” team manager Stephen Mitas said. “It’s a new circuit for the whole team so it will be an interesting challenge. For the team overall, most of the tracks last year were quite new with the exception of the big ones that most of the people have been at before. The team was able to adapt quite quickly and I’m quite confident that will be the same in Qatar.”

The Cadillac LMDh platform features the purpose-built 5.5-liter DOHC V8 engine developed by GM’s Performance and Racing propulsion team paired with the spec hybrid system.

Earl Bamber: “I think we’ve done some good preparation. We learned a lot about the WEC and how they execute the races. We’ve looking forward to picking up again. Qatar will be a challenge because we’ve never been there and I hear it’s quite tricky. We’ll put our best foot forward and see what we can do.”

Alex Lynn: “Overall, it was a positive year. We had a major result at Le Mans with third place. Beyond that, we have a few moments where we shined. We are still in a development phase and we learn a lot every weekend. We had some good qualifications and good races from the start of the season, but the end of the year did not go as hoped. I think we can use all these positives in an interesting way this year.”

Sebastien Bourdais: “I’m looking forward to starting the WEC season and try to help Alex and Earl in Qatar. It’s always fun to discover a new racetrack and I’m happy to get the opportunity to race more in the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R. We hope to take what was learned last year and apply it right from the start while still learning about the car. We hope to kick off the season by scoring some good points.”. Source: Cadillac Racing

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