No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R places fifth on street circuit
LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 15, 2023) — Starting seventh on the sole street circuit on the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship calendar, the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R group decided an alternate strategy was in order to challenge for its second consecutive victory.
That strategy included a full-course caution that came too late in the 100-minute race. Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims co-drove to a fifth-place finish in the third round of the Grand Touring Prototype season.
Sims brought the hybrid prototype into the pits on Lap 6 and gave way to Derani, who systematically moved up and ran second on Lap 38. Derani returned the No. 31 Cadillac to the pits for service on Lap 52 of the 78-lap total, but the strategy didn’t play out to challenge for the lead as the top four cars made one stop in the race.
“We have to make a lot of decisions and one of them was we were toward the back of the pack anyway and passing is so difficult on the track. So, our best shot was to get the driver change done as quick as possible and then any time before the halfway point — when everybody else started pitting – with a yellow flag all of sudden we’re going to have a quicker pit stop than them because they still have to do their driver change,” team manager Gary Nelson said.
“It was the right move early and with a yellow we’re in contention to win. Without a yellow, we have to try to pass people and passing is a higher risk of not finishing than the risk of pitting early.”
Derani and Sims, who teamed with endurance driver Jack Aitken to win the Twelve Hours of Sebring in March, are one point out of the championship lead. The No. 6 Porsche 963 won under caution – the yellow flag flying with three minutes left.
Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande, who won the 2022 Long Beach race to lead a Cadillac sweep of the podium, were unable to mount a challenge as a first-lap incident forced retirement of the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R. It was classified eighth in the GTP class.
Bourdais, who qualified third with a lap of 1 minute, 10.981 seconds on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit, lost grip making a charge for the lead entering Turn 1 and spun, with the nose of the hybrid prototype making contact with the unforgiving concrete barrier.
Cadillac Racing had won the past five races at Long Beach dating to the start of the DPi era. The two Cadillac prototypes will next challenge for the victory May 14 on the undulating 2.238-mile, 11-turn WeatherTech Raceway Laguna road course in a 2-hour, 40-minute race.
In the interim, Bourdais and van der Zande will co-drive the No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on April 29. They will join the sister No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R in the first WEC outing at the Belgian road course for Cadillac Racing. The race will be a warm-up for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, and the Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R will also expand the Hypercar field for the centenary race in France.
The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R will start on the fourth row Sunday in the 6 Hours of Portimão in Portugal. Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook will share driving duties.
No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R
Sebastien Bourdais: “Weird situation for sure there. We got squeezed against the wall at the start and put marbles on the tires. We’re not exactly sure what happened and why the rears locked up. I feel bad for the team, but we’ll learn what we can from this one and move on to what’s next in the WEC, as well as Laguna.”
Renger van der Zande: “It’s unfortunate because we came into this race expecting to defend our win from last year. We have to see what actually happened. Obviously, it’s been very tough to get tire temps in the car and I think that for sure is causing a lot of issues in the warm-up laps. It’s bad for the points in the championship and I feel sorry for the whole team because this is not what we race for.”
No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R
Pipo Derani: “It was one of those races where you start from the back and then you have to try something different, and we did. It was a nice fight up until a certain point of the race. I could fight, overtook a few cars while we were close to the leading cars. We knew we were on a different strategy, and we were counting on another yellow toward the end of the race, which didn’t happen. Nevertheless, we showed that we were on par in terms of pace during the race and I think we managed to improve throughout the weekend, which is very positive. It’s a long championship and I think considering how the race evolved, it’s a good points day. We wanted we wanted to be further ahead, we showed that our Cadillac V-Series.R has a lot of promise and we have a lot to look forward to.”
Alexander Sims: “Starting seventh doesn’t do you any favors in a sprint race on a street circuit where it’s difficult to pass, so the strategy was to pit early and give Pipo tires that had a few laps on them so they would come in quick. We were looking for the yellow that never came. We showed good pace throughout the race and Pipo did a great job. It’s still learning for us and the other teams about this car, so we’ll take the improvements and data and move on to Laguna Seca.”
