Bourdais, van der Zande drive to victory in No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac
LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 9, 2022) – The Nos. 01 and 02 Cadillacs started 1-2 for the 100-minute sprint on the streets of Long Beach and finished 1-2 to lead a Cadillac DPi-V.R sweep of the podium for the second consecutive year.
Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande co-drove the No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R to a 3.761-second victory over its sister Chip Ganassi Racing-prepared No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R driven by Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber.
The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R co-driven by Tristan Vautier and Richard Westbrook earned its third podium finish in as many IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races.
“Congratulations to Chip Ganassi and the team as Cadillac claims its second 1-2-3 of the season,” said Rory Harvey, Vice President (Global) Cadillac.
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). The victory was Cadillac’s 25th in DPi competition.
Bourdais, who reset the DPi track qualifying record Friday with a lap of 1 minute, 9.472 seconds in the 15-minute session in earning the pole award for the second race in a row, drove to a commanding lead in the opening laps. But being squeezed in the hairpin on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn circuit pushed the No. 01 Cadillac nose-first into the Turn 11 barrier and allowed Lynn to take the lead.
Bourdais, however, turned a 21-second gap into driving back into the lead by overtaking the No. 02 Cadillac on Lap 30. Like he did in qualifications, Bourdais broke the circuit DPi race record with a lap of 1:10.317 on Lap 16 in carving his way through the field.
“An amazing weekend for the 01 Cadillac. Just a magical car in qualifying and everything seemed to be in control at the start,” Bourdais said. “We started to hit traffic and I got on the inside of the hairpin and (another car) drifted to the right and put me more on the inside of the hairpin than I wanted. The front just basically took off and didn’t make the corner whatsoever. It just didn’t turn at all.
“My computer told me I had 21 seconds (to make up), and I was like, ‘Well, it’s over.’ I didn’t know how much damage there was to the car. Thankfully, it wasn’t really bad at all,” Bourdais said. “After that, you’re on fire because you’re so mad. We got the lead back.
“The words of the day are don’t make a Frenchman made,” said van der Zande, who took over the wheel during a Lap 40 pit stop and fended off challenges from Bamber on three restarts over the final 33 laps.
Lynn and Bamber, who were joined by Neel Jani to drive to victory in the 12-hour race at Sebring International Raceway last month, took the DPi championship lead by three points over Vautier and Westbrook.
Round 4 for Cadillac teams is the 2-hour, 40-minute race May 1 on the 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Cadillac Racing results:
No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais
Finish: First Start: First
Renger van der Zande: “Chip Ganassi Racing is a fantastic race team. Cadillac is a fantastic car. The combination makes it super successful so far. We had some DNFs because of mechanical failures in the first two races. The only way to move up is to win races, and that’s what we’re doing now. The car was amazing. (Bourdais) gave me the lead and from there on I won’t say it was easy but to control a race is kind of easy. I had great restarts and brought it home for victory. Super happy, super proud.”
Sebastien Bourdais: “(About the early wall contact) My computer told me I had 21 seconds (to make up), and I was like, ‘Well, it’s over.’ I didn’t know how much damage there was to the car. Thankfully, it wasn’t really bad at all. It just didn’t turn at all. After that, you’re on fire because you’re so mad. We got the lead back. (Making fuel number while trying to catch up) Just all those years in INDYCAR and saving fuel, especially here it’s usually a massive fuel saver. We have a lot of references on how to get the tires going and still make a good pace and save fuel. I put it to good use today.”
No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn
Finish: Second Start: Second
Earl Bamber: “First of all, fantastic result. Sebastien (Bourdais) did a phenomenal job today to carve back through the field and to grab the lead. My job was quite simple to bring it to the end. Amazing job to get such a result. Just what we needed to get back in the championship.”
No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R (JDC-Miller MotorSports)
Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook
Finish: Third Start: Fifth
Tristan Vautier: “We could see things were heating up between the 60 and 31 and we were kind of surprised but hoping it would happen. I think we had a fifth-place car today and finished third. We’ll take it and that’s how you make good moves in the championship. It was a long, difficult day. In the end, we made the most of it. It was a good day.”
Richard Westbrook: “Tristan did an amazing job. It was difficult to make that fuel number to commit to a one stop. We should be really happy. When Pipo (Derani) made the move on the 60 at the end, you have to be there to pick up those opportunities. I’m really proud of the team and they deserve this one. We got some good points and that’s how you win championships, and that’s our goal.”
No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R (Action Express Racing)
Pipo Derani, Tristan Nunez
Finish: Fifth Start: Fourth
Pipo Derani: “It’s hard on a street track to recover on just pure pace. You don’t have much room to pass. I was able to do a few moves. But at the end, I was trying to go for P3. The Acura just pushed me wide and the No. 5 Cadillac overtook us. It was a good result for Cadillac. But, for us, it’s disappointing. We tried to come back from behind. I gave everything I had, and we came up short. That’s racing. We’ve got to regroup and see if we can do better next time.”
Tristan Nunez: “I felt like I had a much bigger failure than what actually happened. It ended up being something pretty silly. It was the master switch that must have gotten knocked from a bump going down the front straightaway, which threw me whirl because my hands were on the steering wheel and nothing really changed. It took a little trouble shooting to figure it out. We lost some positions and some ground on the leaders. Fortunately, we were in a good spot when it happened. It was just one of those days. Pipo had an amazing drive after that. We just had a little bit of bad luck here and there. But we’ll get them in Monterey.”
About Cadillac
A leading luxury auto brand since 1902, Cadillac is growing globally, driven by an expanding product portfolio that features distinctive design and technology. More information on Cadillac appears at www.cadillac.com. Cadillac’s media website with information, images and video can be found at media.cadillac.com.
