Two Cadillac V-Series.Rs aim to tame Long Beach street circuit in sprint race
DETROIT (April 12, 2023) – Though IMSA has raced on the temporary street circuit in Long Beach, California, since 2006, each year presents teams and drivers some unknowns.
Questions in 2023 will be magnified with the new Grand Touring Prototype racecars. What is the impact of recently resurfaced sections of the 1.968-mile, 11-turn circuit on tire grip and wear? Will cornering speed be a concern while defending or attempting to overtake? What about traffic management in the 28-car field across three classes? One set of tires for the 100-minute race duration or change on the sole scheduled pit stop?
All that, and more, will come into play this weekend in the third race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Cadillac Racing will aim to extend its winning streak at Long Beach to six races with the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R and No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R competing in the GTP class.
Last April, Sebastien Bourdais set the track qualifying record at 1 minute, 9.472 seconds (101.980 mph) in earning the pole in the No. 01 Cadillac DPi-V.R. He and Renger van der Zande went on to take the checkered flag after 73 laps and lead a Cadillac Racing sweep of the podium for the second consecutive year.
“It’s a very challenging street course, like most of them are, but when you do get it right it’s super rewarding. Obviously, we had a strong weekend last year with the pole and the win. It would be awesome to do it again with Cadillac,” said Bourdais, who also won three times in Long Beach in CART (2005-07).
“The hairpin is tricky and it’s the slowest corner of the season, so it definitely is its own animal. But when I think about Long Beach, I think about Turn 1 more than the hairpin. That’s the place that has the highest approach speed, it’s a tricky braking zone over concrete slabs, it’s bumpy and pretty quick and the room for errors is tiny.”
Cadillac leads the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP Manufacturer Championship standings and the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R prepared by Action Express Racing sits atop the GTP Championship Team and Driver standings through two endurance races.
In Round 2 on March 18, Cadillac earned its third consecutive victory and fifth in seven years in the Twelve Hours of Sebring as pole winner Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken combined to drive the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R.
“It was brilliant to get the win at Sebring and the hard work continues with the race preparation,” said Sims, whose Action Express Racing team won three times (2018, 2019 and 2021) at Long Beach during the DPi era. “We have to work hard to get tuned into the track from a driving and car point of view and work out how these new cars work there. It’s a challenge but looking forward to it.”
Cadillac leads the GTP Manufacturer Championship standings and the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R prepared by Action Express Racing sits atop the GTP Championship Team and Driver standings.
Two practice sessions Friday precede same-day qualifications. USA will telecast the race at 5 p.m. ET Saturday, with Peacock streaming qualifying (8 p.m. ET) and the race. All on-track sessions will be broadcast at IMSA.com along with race coverage on Sirius 216, XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.
What they’re saying
No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R
Sebastien Bourdais: “Long Beach is a great event and definitely one of the highlights of the season. It’s always a fun place to race at. It’s a very challenging street course, like most of them are, but when you do get it right it’s super rewarding. Obviously, we had a strong weekend last year with the pole and the win. It would be awesome to do it again with Cadillac, but we know the competition will be tough. We definitely need points, but we’ve showed progress and pace. Hoping it all comes together this weekend and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Renger van der Zande: “I think Long Beach (2022) is one of the best races in recent memory. Obviously, the car was lightning fast, blinding fast, but Sebastien got us up front and then I was able to finish it off. It’ll be a new track for this car, so we’ll have to see how it behaves. Tire degradation has always been a bit of a topic in Long Beach, so there is a lot of new news for this race which is a good thing. We’re prepared to go and make the most out of what we know and then fine tune things once we get there. Can’t wait to get this Cadillac on another street course race; It’s pretty special.”
No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R
Pipo Derani: “Looking forward to going back to Long Beach. It’s one of those race events that you’re always looking forward to – the first street track of the year. Excited to see how the new GTP cars are going to go around that track in particular. Felipe (Nasr) and I had the chance to win it together in 2021 in a very commanding way. Felipe put it on pole, and I got it from the lead and we just kept increasing until the cheered flag. Nice way to win. It’s one of those races where qualifying matters more than others because it’s just hard to pass like any other street track. Getting there with a win already under our belts this season, a pole position and the championship lead, but we’re going to attack the weekend the same way as if we had not won the last race or were not leading the championship. It’s still early days; we know how long this championship is and every point counts. Every point counts and attacking is the name of the game. We’re going to try to put it on pole again, of course, and make our lives a little bit easier for the race. If you put it on pole in Long Beach, it makes your life a lot easier.”
Alexander Sims: “Looking forward to getting back to Long Beach; it has been awhile since I’ve been there in the GTs. It is certainly one of the unique places that we go to in IMSA with the relatively bumpy street course and medium- to slow-speed corners generally. It’s always the same at street tracks – when the walls are the limit it heightens the experience somewhat as the risk versus reward judgment that you’re making all the time is skewed a bit more. There is more risk that you can take but it’s not very comfortable as you could see last year by Bourdais’ pace the rewards are high if you’re able to achieve that but it’s super difficult to ignore the walls are there because you know any mistake and your race is probably over. It was brilliant to get the win at Sebring and the hard work continues with the race preparation. We have to work hard to get tuned into the track from a driving and car point of view and work out how these new cars work there. It’s a challenge but looking forward to it.”
Cadillac Racing on the streets of Long Beach results 2022-2017
Overall wins
2022 (Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais)
2021 (Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr)
2019 (Joao Barbosa, Filipe Albuquerque)
2018 (Joao Barbosa, Filipe Albuquerque)
2017 (Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor)
- No race in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic
2022: Overall winner (No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R) start first – Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais
Second (No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn
Third (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fifth – Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook
Fifth (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fourth – Pipo Derani, Tristan Nunez2021: Overall winner (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start first – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr
Second (No. 01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Renger van der Zande, Kevin Magnussen
Third (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start third – Tristan Vautier, Loic Duval2019: Overall winner (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fourth – Felipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa
Fifth (No. 84 JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi-V.R) start seventh – Stephen Simpson, Simon Trummer
Sixth (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr
Seventh (No. 50 Juncos Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start ninth – Kyle Kaiser, Will Owen
10th (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start 10th – Renger van der Zande, Jordan Taylor2018: Overall winner (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fifth — Felipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa
Third (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start sixth – Renger van der Zande, Jordan Taylor
Seventh (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Felipe Nasr, Eric Curran2017: Overall winner (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start first – Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor
29th overall, seventh in class (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi
32nd overall, eighth in class (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fifth – Eric Curran, Dane Cameron
