Cadillac sweeps front row in qualifying for second race in a row
Bourdais records track record in the No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R
LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 8, 2022) – For the second consecutive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race, Cadillac swept the front row in qualifying.
For the second race in a row, Sebastien Bourdais earned the pole award in the No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R. For the second race in a row, Bourdais set the DPi track qualifying lap record.
“Now all we have to do is put it all together over 100 minutes,” said Bourdais of the April 9 race on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit in downtown Long Beach.
A Cadillac DPi has won every race at Long Beach dating to the inception of the class in 2017 (there was no race in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic), and last year the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R won from the pole to lead a Cadillac sweep of the top three finishers.
Bourdais drove the No. 01 Cadillac to a best lap of 1 minute, 9.472 seconds in the 15-minute session with a late-afternoon ambient temperature of 92 degrees. The previous qualifying lap record was 1:11.322, set in 2019. He also set the DPi track qualifying record for the 12-hour race on the Sebring International Raceway road course last month in claiming the pole start.
“That 01 Cadillac has been awesome to drive,” said Bourdais, who topped the practice time chart with a lap of 1:10.913 earlier in the day. “I just basically had to hit the potential of the car and get quite a good margin on the field. That was a great feeling. It’s testament to the team’s ability to give us some really fast race cars.”
Alex Lynn, driving the No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R that won the Sebring race, will join his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate on the front row. He recorded a best lap of 1:09.833.
Pipo Derani, who co-drove to victory in 2021 at Long Beach, posted a best lap of 1:10.001 and will start fourth. Tristan Vautier, who co-drove the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R to a runner-up finish at Sebring, will start fifth after a best lap of 1:10.376.
USA Network will telecast the race at 5 p.m. ET April 9. Peacock will also stream the race live, and IMSA Radio will have the broadcast.
An interview with DPi pole winner Sebastien Bourdais (No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R):
TALK ABOUT HOW QUALIFYING DIFFERS IN A 12- OR 24-HOUR RACE BUT HOW MUCH IT MATTERS HERE.
“When you have 24 or 12 hours of racing, it seems a little futile. We have a 100-minute race with a busy field and a one-stopper, with difficulty to pass unless you get caught in traffic or make a mistake. It’s quite important and we’ve teed ourselves up for the best possible situation and scenario, but there’s still 100 minutes of racing to go and we’ve proved we don’t need 100 minutes to lose it. Let’s hope that we won’t do that tomorrow.”
TELL US WHAT IT TOOK TO MAKE IT HAPPEN TODAY AND WHAT IT WILL TAKE TOMORROW.
“I took a really good lap. I was really happy, and thanks to the boys at Chip Ganassi Racing. That 01 Cadillac has been awesome to drive. I just basically had to hit the potential of the car and get quite a good margin on the field. That was a great feeling. It’s testament to the team’s ability to give us some really fast race cars. I’m just looking forward to a different outcome because we’ve kind of shot ourselves in the foot quite a bit with mechanical issues – nothing to do with Cadillac but just kind of issues on our end. I’m really looking forward to picking up our game and put an event together, and I’m hoping it’s going to happen tomorrow.”
NEARLY TWO SECONDS UNDER THE TRACK RECORD, WHERE DID THE TIME COME FROM?
“It’s not like INDYCAR where you have a street course, road course, oval tire. Really, we’re running a road course tire on the street course. It’s a harder tire than it could be for places like this and the unusual high temperatures helped get the tires in that window for the car. The grip was amazing. Michelin has some really stable tires.”
IT WILL BE MUCH COOLER TOMORROW. HOW WILL THAT PLAY OUT?
“Back to normal. That’s the tough part. I think it really helped rubber up the track, and you can produce some really fast early lap times. From there, what happens I don’t think anybody really knows. I think, overall, I’m not super worried. I think it will just be easier on the rear tires. We have the bars in the car, we can change tire pressures for the second stint. It’s all about managing traffic, making sure you don’t get caught out in the big groups of GTs that are going to be around because it’s going to be 20 GTs nose to tail for the opening stint.”
Cadillac Racing lineup, starting position and notes:
No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais
Bourdais drove in the qualifying session (start first, 1:45.166). Bourdais has earned the pole award at the two most recent races. Bourdais is a three-time winner at Long Beach in Indy car competition. … Van der Zande teamed with Kevin Magnussen to finish second in the 2021 race at Long Beach in the first season for the No. 01 Cadillac DPi-V.R.
Car chief-Phil Binks
Lead engineer-John Hennek
Race strategist-Peter Baron
No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn
Lynn drove in the qualifying session (start second, 1:09.833). The 02 Cadillac DPi-V.R won the race at Sebring after starting fourth. … First-year team in expanded Cadillac Racing entry for Chip Ganassi Racing. … … Bamber salutes his home country with a silver fern design on the sides of his helmet — a quasi-national emblem used for various official New Zealand symbols.
Car chief-Jamie Coates
Lead engineer-Danielle Shephard
Race strategist-Michael Harvey
No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R (Action Express Racing)
Pipo Derani, Tristan Nunez
Derani drove in the qualifying session (start fourth, 1:10.001): “We have a good car and we decided to kind of abort qualifying to have some tires for the race, and unfortunately the lap I did wasn’t enough and almost all the guys improved. I think they put up an amazing lap at the end. It’s one of those question marks; had I stayed a couple more laps could I have gone quicker? I believe so because the car has been so good. I think we missed an opportunity and we thought what we had was good enough because we never saw those kind of laps here. We have a good race pace and we’ll attack tomorrow.”
The No. 31 Cadillac DPi-V.R started from the pole and went on to win the 2021 race on the street circuit with Derani co-driving with Felipe Nasr. The team is coming off a third-place finish at Sebring. It opened the season with a fourth place at Daytona. … Derani and Nasr were the 2021 IMSA DPi Driver Champions and Whelen Engineering/Action Express Racing was the Team Champion.
Car chief-Bill Keuler
Technical director/lead engineer-Iain Watt
Race strategist-Tim Keene
No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R (JDC-Miller MotorSports)
Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook
Vautier drove in the qualifying session (start fifth, 1:10.376): “The car doesn’t feel bad, but we’re lacking pace to the 01 and 02 cars. We made some changes (after practice) for qualifying that made the car feel better that I think will give us a better race car for tomorrow.”
The No 5 Cadillac DPi-V.R enters the race weekend as the DPi championship points leader after third- and second-place finishes to start the season. … Vautier teamed with 2022 endurance event driver Loic Duval to place third in the 2021 Long Beach race. … The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R won the 2018 and 2019 race at Long Beach.
Car chief-Josh Kerrigan
Lead engineer-Rick Cameron
Race strategist-John Church
Cadillac Racing DPi-V.R Long Beach results 2021-2017
2021: Overall winner (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start first – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr
Second (No. 01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Renger van der Zande, Kevin Magnussen
Third (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start third – Tristan Vautier, Loic Duval
2019: Overall winner (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fourth – Felipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa
Fifth (No. 84 JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi-V.R) start seventh – Stephen Simpson, Simon Trummer
Sixth (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr
Seventh (No. 50 Juncos Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start ninth – Kyle Kaiser, Will Owen
10th (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start 10th – Renger van der Zande, Jordan Taylor
2018: Overall winner (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fifth — Felipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa
Third (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start sixth – Renger van der Zande, Jordan Taylor
Seventh (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Felipe Nasr, Eric Curran
2017: Overall winner (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start first – Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor
29th overall, seventh in class (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi
32nd overall, eighth in class (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fifth – Eric Curran, Dane Cameron
About Cadillac
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