No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R finishes fourth in 18-car Hypercar field at COTA
AUSTIN, Texas (Sept. 1, 2024) – After qualifying third Saturday for the Lone Star Le Mans, Alex Lynn took the opportunity for a motivational moment in the Cadillac Racing garage at Circuit of the Americas.
“I said in the debrief to the team, ‘We’re good at having a good Saturday, well done, we’ve done it again, but let’s focus on banking a result tomorrow,’ ” he said following the 10-minute Hyperpole session. “That’s all we want … to nail a result on the table tomorrow night that we can be happy with, whether that’s P5, P6, a podium or a win. We need to execute tomorrow because so far this season we haven’t done that. We need a result we deserve on home turf.”
Mission accomplished. Fourth place in the 18-car Hypercar field for the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R driven by Lynn and Earl Bamber in the steamy six-hour encounter was reward for the entire team’s efforts in the sixth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season.
“I think we came home with a solid A result,” a sweat-soaked Lynn said following the last of 183 laps on the 3.426-mile, 20-turn course.
The result is the best in a challenging and often frustrating second year of Hypercar competition. Fourth place in the opener in Qatar was vacated after FIA stewards ruled on a post-race technical infraction and other promising starts fizzled.
Media resources: Cadillac Racing race weekend photos | Cadillac Racing WEC statistics
Third place in the centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans in June 2023 is the high-water mark for the Cadillac Racing program. Lynn and Bamber started that inaugural season with fourth place results at Sebring International Raceway and Portimao in Portugal.
The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R qualified third – the fourth consecutive race it has recorded a top four starting spot in Hyperpole — and Bamber started the late morning (CDT) race with the ambient temperature pushing 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Contact with the No. 35 Alpine in Turn 12 of Lap 1 dropped the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R to seventh in the 18-car running order, and Race Control handed the Alpine Hypercar a drive-thru penalty for causing the incident.
The team quickly implemented an alternate pit stop strategy designed to return the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R to contention. Bamber and Lynn – the lone tandem among Hypercar competitors – traded driving duties on each pit stop, navigated traffic and were unscathed from further contact while the Chip Ganassi Racing-led crew performed flawlessly on each service stop.
Following the final round of stops with under 54 minutes left, Lynn drew tantalizingly close to the third place-running No. 50 Ferrari AF Corse. But the restart after the third full-course caution of the race with 33 minutes left blunted his progress.
The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P became the sixth different Hypercar winner this season.
The Lone Star Le Mans – the sixth round of the eight-race season — marked the WEC’s return to the racecourse after a three-year absence. The race was a fixture on the calendar from 2013-2017.
Next up for Cadillac Racing is the Six Hours of Fuji on Sept. 15 at the 2.835-mile, 12-turn Fuji Speedway.
What they’re saying
Alex Lynn: “Our goal was a podium at home. That would have been our A-plus result. I think we came home with a solid A result. We finished only behind Ferrari and Toyota and we know they are very strong. To be P4 is a rally good day and we should be proud. It’s something to build upon 100 percent. We learn a lot and it was our first race where we could really work on the detail and dig into when we’re fighting for one-tenth every single lap what do I need in the car, etcetera. Just a solid day.”
Earl Bamber: “I think it was a really good day. We managed to execute the race well and did the most we could. It would have been great to get P3, but we came home with a solid result. (Lap 1 incident) It wasn’t a huge bearing on the whole race. We were quite lucky. It could have been worse. We managed to survive, get a good, clean first stint and get through the rest. A solid result and I’m proud of everyone.”
