Scoring maximum points the goal for Cadillac V-Series.R cars in penultimate race
DETROIT (Sept. 12, 2023) – “Everybody wants to kiss the bricks, right?”
Sebastien Bourdais, co-driver with Renger van der Zande of the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R, is looking forward to earning that reward this weekend when the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship charges into Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks.
The 2-hour, 40-minute race will mark the first time the premier North American sports car racing series competes on the IMS road course since 2014. The event will expand to a six-hour race in 2024.
Bourdais is no stranger to the Brickyard. The four-time CART champion has made 10 INDYCAR starts on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course (best finish of fourth in 2014, ’15 and 2018) and nine Indianapolis 500 starts.
He co-drove a Daytona Prototype with Alex Popow to victory in the 2012 NASCAR Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race and co-drove a Chevrolet Corvette DP to 11th place in 2013 on the previous (2.534-mile) circuit configuration.
A decade later, the hybrid Grand Touring Prototype racecar he and van der Zande drove to victory in May at Laguna Seca makes its debut at the iconic racetrack.
“It’s a very different era,” Bourdais said. “Those DP cars back then were a little lighter but not a crazy amount. The biggest difference is the redesign of the track. We used to go backward in Turn 1 and it was a cool track. This one is a whole different challenge. With our cars not having as much downforce, being heavy and having quite a bit of power, we’ll get to Turn 1 and the backstraight quite quickly. But the feel is actually not all that different from back then. There are just a few nuances.”
Bourdais and van der Zande teamed with No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R drivers Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims to work through a testing program in late July at IMS that they hope delivers results. Derani and Sims enter the penultimate race of the season a close second in the GTP Team and Driver Championship standings. They sit atop the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup standings ahead of the 10-hour season finale at Road Atlanta in October.
Bourdais and van der Zande are sixth in the regular-season championship chase, though only 118 points out of the top spot. Cadillac Racing paces the field in both the GTP regular season and endurance Manufacturer Championship points.
“I think we have a solid baseline coming away from the test, so hopefully we can hit the ground running and be strong as we felt we were during the test,” said Bourdais, who recorded the third-quickest lap over the two days of testing. “Conditions could be very different compared to the heat that we had to deal with during the test, but overall looking forward getting there and scoring maximum points. We’re in the (championship) mix and have to stick with it and see what we can do.”
NBC will telecast the race live at 1 p.m. ET Sunday, Sept. 17. Peacock streaming in the U.S. begins at 1 p.m. ET, while viewers outside the U.S. can tune in to IMSA.com. Both Peacock and IMSA.com will stream qualifications at 12:55 p.m. ET Saturday, Sept. 16. IMSA Radio will air on-track sessions at IMSA.com with the race call also on XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.
What they’re saying
No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R
Sebastien Bourdais: “I’m looking forward to the Indy road course. As far as the racing community and us in IMSA and Cadillac, it’s one that everybody wants to be a part of. It’s a very different setting as far as the racetrack is concerned compared to most of the other places we go. Very heavy braking, which will open up opportunities for passing. I think it will be extremely challenging in traffic because it’s a track that isn’t easy to manage multi-class racing. Once you hit Turn 4 and then the Esses, you’re kind of stuck. Same thing with (Turns) 7, 8, 9, it’s a one-groove place. You can try to divebomb someone, but that’s until the marbles build up and it will be a lot trickier. It will be a game of patience and a game of aggression. I think it’s easy to make a mistake and end up in the grass in Turn 1 or the last couple of corners. I think we have a solid baseline coming away from the test, so hopefully we can hit the ground running and be strong as we felt we were during the test. Conditions could be very different compared to the heat that we had to deal with during the test, but overall looking forward getting there and scoring maximum points. We’re in the (championship) mix and have to stick with it and see what we can do.”
Renger van der Zande: “Indianapolis is a home race for the team and that brings a great atmosphere to the team for the race weekend. It will be nice to see the families coming to the racetrack. Indianapolis is a track that is not my favorite, but most of favorite tracks are the ones that I have won on. Hopefully, after this weekend I can say this will be one of my favorite tracks.”
No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R
Pipo Derani: “We had a productive test at Indianapolis back in July; learned quite a few things about the car in general and how it performs in extreme heat. I don’t think we’ll see those conditions for the race weekend. It is an important race for the team as we’re right in the mix for the championship. We won the pole at Road America in our last race, though we didn’t have the results we were looking for. Still, the car is fast and we look forward to putting on a great race for the fans as IMSA returns to Indianapolis.”
Alexander Sims: “I’m looking forward to racing at Indianapolis for the first time. The July test was useful – even under hot conditions. Nevertheless, we collected a lot of useful information to understand how the car performs at the track. The track itself is fairly straightforward, so it’s mainly fine-tuning things from a driving point of view. We have two races left and we’re right in the hunt for the championship. It’s a very tight championship at the moment, so it is crucial for us to have two very strong races. That’s going to come about by us doing the basics right and executing well to maximize our performance. The car is fast; the team is operating well and generally I’d say Pipo and I are in a good place for Indianapolis. We were very competitive at the test. The race at Indy will be a challenge with traffic. There are a lot of corner combinations at Indy where you turn left-right, left-right continuously and it’s difficult to get past cars in those sequences of corners without taking sometimes an unnecessary amount of risk or sometimes it’s just not possible to get past. Sometimes it goes for you and sometimes it goes against you. It’s just part of multi-class endurance racing.”
