Bourdais puts the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R in third position for 100-minute race
DETROIT (May 31, 2024) – Sebastien Bourdais recorded a lap of 1 minute, 05.762 seconds in the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R on the 1.654-mile, nine-turn temporary street circuit to qualify third for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear.
Bourdais, who co-drove with Renger van der Zande to victory in the other IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship street course race this season, will aim to best the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) competition in the 100-minute race Saturday in the shadow of GM’s world headquarters.
Reigning GTP champion Pipo Derani, who had qualified on the pole in three of the four races, was running fifth in the 15-minute session when the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R make right-rear contact with the concrete barrier in Turn 5, slid across the track and made light nose assembly contact with the barrier to cause a red flag with 2:30 left in the session.
Derani lost his two fastest laps and will start 10th. A 20-minute practice session precedes the 3 p.m. ET green flag. The No. 6 Porsche 963 earned the pole with a lap of 1:05.390.
Cadillac won four of the five races and placed second in the other in 2017-2022 at Detroit (the 2.3-mile street circuit on nearby Belle Isle) since joining IMSA prototype competition in 2017. There was no race in 2020 because of the pandemic and the GTP did not compete at Detroit in 2023. Van der Zande co-drove to victory in 2022 and 2021 with Cadillac Racing.
USA will telecast the race and Peacock will provide flag-to-flag streaming of the race in the U.S. while IMSA.TV will have coverage outside the U.S. IMSA Radio (IMSA.com), RadioLeMans.com will broadcast every session. SiriusXM live race coverage will be available at XM 206, SiriusXM Web/App 996.
What they’re saying
No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R
Sebastien Bourdais: “It’s not bad at all; just missing a little bit to put everything together. I’m pretty happy. You’re never completely satisfied with P3 but given the circumstances for this weekend I think it’s not bad. We’re in a raceable situation and it’s all pretty tight behind us. We have something we want to try in the (race day) practice because we’re not where we want to be. We might have gone a bit too conservative because of the nature of what seemed to be a very bumpy track. It is, but it really isn’t at the same time. There are bit bumps, but I feel like your still need a car that gives you enough ride height and downforce to really challenge the tires and get them going, particularly tomorrow when it’s going to be overcast.”
No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R
Pipo Derani: “We’ve been struggling a bit through the weekend with set-up, so I went in there and I knew it was only three laps to go and I just tried a bit too much. Unfortunately, I spun and hit the wall. I don’t think we had the pace we wanted to be fighting for the front and I didn’t feel like I had much more in the pocket. Then I tried to be a bit of a superman and put a lap in. We have enough time to recover tomorrow.”
