No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R advances two positions from qualifying to score first point
IMOLA, Italy (April 21, 2024) – The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R scored its first Hypercar point of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season, advancing two positions from its qualifying spot to place 10th in the 6 Hours of Imola.
A day after the sister No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R and No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R finished 1-2 in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship sprint race on the streets of Long Beach, California, Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber combined to drive another solid race by managing traffic and tires under difficult track conditions.
Rain pelted sectors of the 3-mile (4.9 km), 21-turn Autodromo Internazionale Enzo and Dino Ferrari circuit, with Race Control declaring the course wet with 2 hours, 18 minutes left.
Lynn, who qualified seventh in the season-opening race last month at Qatar and was behind the wheel in the 12-minute qualifying at Imola, started the race and endured a damaged rear wing sustained at the green flag and a right-rear tire puncture from debris on his second stint that forced an unplanned pit stop.
With 3 hours, 23 minutes left, Lynn handed off to Bamber, who regained positions and was running 12th when the course was declared wet and the Safety Car on track for an incident. After pitting for Michelin wet tires with 2 hours, 4 minutes left, Bamber proceeded to gain three spots with on-track moves over the next 45 minutes.
Bamber would run on one set of wet tires for a total of 1 hours, 26 minutes until pitting for energy and used slick tires with 38 minutes remaining as the track dried and battles for position heated up.
Toyota spoiled the party for the “home” Hypercar entries by winning in Italy for the second consecutive year. Former Cadillac Racing drivers Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi teamed with Nyck de Vries in the No. 7 Toyota GRD10 to win by 7 seconds in the race that covered 205 laps.
The facility, which hosted its first race in 1953 and last Intercontinental Le Mans Cup — precursor of the WEC — race in 2011, replaced Monza on the WEC calendar this year as the latter is undergoing scheduled work.
Cadillac Racing will prepare for its next WEC race – May 10-12 at Spa-Francorchamps, where the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R qualified fourth and finished fifth in 2023. The race weekend is concurrent with the IMSA race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, where Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande will look to make it two wins in a row in the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R and successfully defend their victory from last May at the California road course.
Alex Lynn: “The start of the race first corner was quite busy and we unfortunately got hit from behind that caused some damage. Other than that, the pace seemed really strong. We also got a right-rear puncture, which was a shame. But I think today was by far our best day race-wise, so pleased with how we turned our weekend around a bit. Looking forward to Spa.”
Earl Bamber: “We had good pace and to get one point is a start to the championship after Qatar. The car was fantastic on the wet, and we made the most out of it. It’s always a gamble when you switch from wets to slicks when the forecast is uncertain and only sectors of the track are wet, so all the teams were challenged on what strategy to use. Thanks to the crew and everyone for their efforts. On to Spa.”
