Both Cadillac V-Series.Rs top time sheet in practice on the 4-mile course
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Aug. 4, 2023) – Cadillac Racing recorded the quickest lap times in free practice 1 and 2 – with different Cadillac V-Series.Rs holding the top spot on the time sheet – in preparation for the IMSA Sports Car Weekend at Road America.
Pipo Derani took over the seat in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R from Alexander Sims midway through the 90-minute afternoon session and posted the best lap of Grand Touring Prototype cars at 1 minute, 47.986 seconds on the recently resurfaced 4-mile, 14-turn road course.
His 34th and final lap time pipped Sebastien Bourdais, who registered a best lap of 1:48.187 in the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R. Bourdais and teammate Renger van der Zande topped the time sheet in the morning session (1:49.538), with the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R second (1:49.592).
Derani and Sims enter the 2-hour, 40-minute race atop the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP standings. Cadillac leads the Manufacturer Championship standings.
Cadillac Racing posted eight podium finishes at Road America in the DPi era, including victory in 2021 (Derani, Felipe Nasr).
Bourdais and van der Zande earned a podium result at Road America in 2022 – one place behind the runner-up finish of the sister Cadillac DPi-V.R driven by Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn. Van der Zande has also driven to third place in 2021 and second in 2020 in the Cadillac DPi-V.R at Road America.
The live USA Network telecast and Peacock streaming of the race starts at 11 a.m. ET Sunday, Aug. 6. Outside the U.S., streaming will be available at IMSA.com/TVLive. IMSA Radio at IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com plus SiriusXM live (XM 207, Web/App 992) broadcast of the race also starts at 11 a.m.
No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R
Sebastien Bourdais following the first practice in which he posted the quickest lap: “It’s just a very different from the Road America from what we knew. I think it will get better after time. On the INDYCAR weekend it must have been really exciting because basically nothing had run before, and even now after INDYCAR, after NASCAR and testing it’s still surprising when you go down the inside. I think it’s going to be tricky in traffic. There is a high amount of grip on the line and on the inside and in the braking zones it’s low. We’ll sort it out. Overall, I think we learned things at the Indy road course that helped us figure out a few things and we’re on the right path with the 01 Cadillac.”
No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R
Pipo Derani following the second practice in which he posted the quickest lap: ““It was a positive day for all of us at Cadillac Racing. A better order in the second practice, I would say. Jokes aside, it’s not only being quick in practice 1 and expecting to be quick in practice 2. You have to keep working on it, trying different things to find a little bit here and a little bit there. It was a good start but obviously the competition is very stiff and strong. It’s a long track and a small mistake going really quick can cost you a couple of tenths (of a second) and a position. Trying to put everything together is not easy and that’s why we’re trying to have a car that’s good and easier to achieve the desired lap times. At the end of the day it’s competition whether it’s’ practice or qualifying. You always want to be the quickest. Practice is very tight and we shouldn’t expect anything different in qualifying., which means that every detail is going to count.”
