IMSA preview: Cadillac swings into Watkins Glen

Cadillac V-Series.R coming off second win in four GTP races, good showing at Le Mans

DETROIT (June 20, 2023) – Cadillac Racing seeks to continue its positive vibes flowing this weekend at Watkins Glen International following a double podium finish in the last IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race.

The No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R, driven by Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande, carved through the Grand Touring Prototype field from its sixth starting spot and won the 2-hour, 40-minute race at Laguna Seca. The No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R driven by Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims placed third.

Cadillac has won two of the four IMSA GTP races and paces the Manufacturer Championship entering the six-hour race on the 3.4-mile, 11-turn Watkins Glen International road course.

Both sets of drivers are coming off competition in the Hypercar class of the centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans in which Bourdais and van der Zande, joined by six-time INDYCAR champion Scott Dixon, secured fourth place overall in the 62-car field. The sister No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R – a full-time FIA World Endurance Championship entry – claimed Cadillac’s first podium finish in the iconic endurance race.

In 2022, Bourdais and van der Zande drove to a third-place finish at The Glen.

Derani and Sims will team with Jack Aitken for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. They combined for victory in the Twelve Hours of Sebring in March and co-drove to 10th place in the Hypercar class at Le Mans in the No. 311 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R.

Peacock will stream flag-to-flag coverage of the race in the U.S. starting at 10:30 a.m. ET, with IMSA.com/TVLive providing streaming coverage outside the U.S. USA Network will telecast the race from 2-5 p.m. ET. Qualifying and the race will be broadcast on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com, with SiriusXM live broadcast of the race on XM 207 and Web/App 992 starting at 10:30 a.m.

See the roster of Cadillac vehicles

Spectators can view the exciting lineup of Cadillac vehicles, including the Escalade-V and the track-capable CT5-V Blackwing at the Cadillac display in the midway. The special CT4-V Blackwing Watkins Glen track edition will also be on display and lead the prototype field to the green flag..

Hours are 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.

What they’re saying

No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R

Renger van der Zande: “Watkins Glen is one of the better tracks in a six-hour race. It’s a track where you really get tired because of the high G loads and the track has a lot of grip. It is the first time we’ll be there with the Cadillac V-Series.R car, so that will be interesting how we set up the car. I was in the Dallara simulator this week to see if we can benefit for the weekend. There always seems to be a red flag because there is often rain on at least one of the days, so we’ll see what it brings this year. We had some practice in the rain at Le Mans, so hopefully we can benefit from when we go back to IMSA racing. We’re the winners from the last race so obviously that’s motivating.”

Sebastien Bourdais: “A lot of things have happened in the last few weeks — the win at Laguna Seca and a strong performance from the whole Cadillac group at Le Mans. With all the adversity we had throughout the week and the race itself, that we finished the race and finished fourth is a credit to the entire team and Cadillac. Going into Watkins Glen, it is an intense race on a very intense track. High speed, mega commitment with quite a bit of momentum. Hopefully, we can build on the form we had at Le Mans and Laguna and the progress we’ve made over the last few weeks. The weather can be a wild factor in that race, so it’s going to be interesting to see how it all shakes out. On top of it, we have the medium hot temperature Michelin tire for that weekend, which is the hard from Le Mans. Overall, pretty happy where we are at and looking forward to the challenge.”

No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R

Jack Aitken: “Looking forward to getting back into IMSA racing after our trip to Le Mans with the team. I think we learned a lot from that trip and there are some lessons that we can bring to IMSA, which is quite exciting. A six-hour race compared to 24 hours is going to feel like a sprint. Probably just one time in the car for each driver. Watkins Glen is a new track for me and it will be a challenge with the amount of cars starting the race, so we’ll be working our way through traffic the whole time. We don’t have a lot of practice time, so we’ll have to learn fast and make good decisions during those sessions. I’m looking forward to driving what looks like an exciting, fast-flowing track. I think it will suit the car well.”

Pipo Derani: “Happy to come back to Watkins Glen. It’s a very fast and enjoyable track to drive and also part of the endurance championship where we are also fighting at the top. It will be, as usual, a demanding race and I am looking forward to be back in IMSA after having the pleasure to race at Le Mans with our team. Hoping we can get back on victory lane as we did in Sebring and continue our fight for the endurance and overall championship.”

Alexander Sims: “Looking forward to Watkins Glen. Having completed the Le Mans 24-hour race, we got a lot of really useful information to develop and verify some of the systems on the car, the engine management software seems to be going in a good direction. And it was good to get a lot of laps to get a good feel for the car. It’s always difficult with some of the short weekends. You go from one practice session to the next doing short runs and short runs and then you’re in the race without a lot of time to get on top of things, so the Le Mans week was good for that. The car felt really good in the Porsche curves at Le Mans and we’ll see similar medium and high speed corners at Watkins, so hopefully that will play to our advantage. It’s my first time there in a prototype so it will be a challenge in short practice sessions. I’m hopeful we can get a good result and continue our form in IMSA.”

Cadillac Racing DPi-V.R Watkins Glen results 2022-2017

2022: Third (No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R) start third – Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande

     Fourth (No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fourth – Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn

     Fifth (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fifth – Pipo Derani, Olivier Pla, Mike Conway

     Sixth (No. 48 Ally Cadillac DPi-V.R) start seventh – Jimmie Johnson, Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Rockenfeller

     Seventh (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R) start sixth – Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook, Loic Duval

2021 (2-hour, 40-minute race): First (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fourth – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr

    Second (No. 01 Cadillac DPi-V.R) start third – Renger van der Zande, Kevin Magnussen

    Fourth (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start sixth – Tristan Vautier, Loic Duval

2021 (6-hour race): Fourth (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fifth – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr, Mike Conway

    Fifth (No. 48 Ally Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fourth – Jimmie Johnson, Simon Pagenaud, Kamui Kobayashi

    Sixth (No. 01 Cadillac DPi-V.R) start third – Renger van der Zande, Kevin Magnussen

    Seventh (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start sixth – Tristan Vautier, Loic Duval, Sebastien Bourdais

2020: No race

2019: Fourth (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fifth – Renger van der Zande, Jordan Taylor

     Sixth (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start sixth – Joao Barbosa, Filipe Albuquerque, Mike Conway

     Seventh (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start seventh – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr, Eric Curran

    Eighth (No. 50 Juncos Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start 10th – Will Owen, Rene Binder

    Ninth (No. 84 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi-V.R) start ninth – Simon Trummer, Stephen Simpson, Chris Miller

    11th overall (No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi-V.R) start eighth – Tristan Vautier, Misha Goikhberg, Juan Piedrahita

2018: Fifth (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start sixth – Renger van der Zande, Jordan Taylor

     Sixth (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R) start 12th – Gabby Chaves, Filipe Albuquerque, Christian Fittipladi

     Seventh (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start ninth – Felipe Nasr, Eric Curran, Mike Conway

     11th overall (No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac DPi-V.R) start 10th – Tristan Vautier, Matthew McMurry

2017: First (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start third – Christian Fittipaldi, Joao Barbosa, Filipe Albuquerque

     Sixth (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fourth – Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor

     16th overall (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start sixth – Dane Cameron, Eric Curran, Filipe Albuquerque

2023 Cadillac V-Series.R

Wins: Sebring (Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims, Jack Aitken), Laguna Seca (Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande)

2 wins, 4 podiums (including wins) IMSA

1 podium FIA WEC (Le Mans; No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R – Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Richard Westbrook)

Cadillac total wins in all classes/series since 2004: 68

Cadillac total podiums in all classes/series since 2004: 216

IMSA GTP (4)

IMSA DPi (85)

FIA WEC (1)

World Challenge (126)

Cadillac Manufacturer Championships in all series: 8

IMSA DPi (2021, 2018, 2017)