Fourth- and sixth-place finishes for Cadillac V-Series.Rs in 2-hour, 40-minute race
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Aug. 6, 2023) – Cadillac Racing overcame pre-race and in-race issues to record fourth- and sixth-place finishes Sunday in the IMSA Sports Car Weekend at Road America.
The No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R, which qualified third on the 10-car Grand Touring Prototype grid, experienced tire issues in the middle section of the 2-hour, 40-minute race on the recently repaved 4-mile, 14-turn road course that cost Renger van der Zande two positions and effectively the opportunity to compete for a podium spot. He and Sebastien Bourdais drove to fourth place.
The pole-winning No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R experienced adversity two hours before the green flag when Alexander Sims got caught off-guard by cold tires on the fast Turn 12 and made heavy rear impact with the barrier. Sims was checked at the infield care center and cleared to drive, and the crew quickly prepared to commence systematic work on the Cadillac Racing hybrid racecar.
After an extensive exchange of parts and bodywork that took less than 90 minutes, the car rolled out of the prep area to cheers from the throng of spectators gathered and joined the grid with Pipo Derani behind the wheel. Per IMSA regulations, the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R started from the rear of the GTP field.
“It was a great effort by the entire team, including Pipo handing off wrenches and being fully engaged, to get the car on the grid for the warmup laps and take the green flag with no mechanical issues,” team manager Gary Nelson said. “The crew worked systematically and, as always, professionally. We are appreciative of the crew of the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R checking if we needed any parts or assistance. Cadillac Racing works as one team.”
Derani and Sims did not find the pace it had when Derani reset the track lap record in qualifying and soldiered on to sixth place. The No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R fell out of the IMSA Driver/Team Championship lead and enters the penultimate race of the season 14 points arrears. Derani, Sims and Jack Aitken lead the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup standings with one race left.
Cadillac retained its IMSA Manufacturer Championship points lead.
The No. 7 Porsche 963, which qualified second, won the race to mark the sixth different winner in seven races.
Next up is the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks on Sept. 15-17 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Both Cadillac V-Series.R recently tested on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn circuit that incorporates sections of the famous oval.
No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R
Sebastien Bourdais: “I thought we were looking pretty good through my stint. The 7 car was really quick and got a couple of breaks in traffic. The car wasn’t easy to drive but I thought we were en route to a podium finish. Unfortunately, it got clearly more difficult rapidly for Renger with the flat spot on the left-front that he dragged the whole middle stint. It hurt him a lot when he fought it out with the 60 on the way out of the pits, and I think that kind of dictated our race because that middle stint really hurt us when we lost second and third (place). I feel like the team did a really nice job this weekend. We found a few things that we liked on the car at the Indy road course test that seemed to translate well here. We just need to keep working and learning about the car.”
Renger van der Zande: “The middle stint was hurt by the flat spot on the front tire and later in that stint I flat-spotted the right-front as well. I don’t know why the second one happened but the first was just cold tire and off-line. It’s just a slippery track. I didn’t expect that to happen but it compromised our race day. I would have been able to fight the Acuras for position on normal tires, but I’m happy with the finish given how tough it is to pass off-line and move on from there.”
No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R
Pipo Derani: “We take the positives from what the crew and team did to get the car into the race after what happened in warmup to Alex on cold tires. Just to have gone into the race to score some points is great. Obviously, difficult situation with the tires being too cold in warmup and getting Alex off-guard. We’ve being seeing that happen a lot this year. It was us today and could be someone else tomorrow. We leave here without the lead in the championship, but it’s one of those things that are out of your control. But the positive is we finished the race and scored points in the championship.”
Alexander Sims: “The real credit today goes to the team that got us back out. They were faced with massive difficult conditions after my mistake in warmup, so they really got us the points today. The race was unfortunately not much better than the start of warmup. It seemed like we really struggled for pace. I was hoping Pipo might have good pace on a new set of tires, but he didn’t seem to be able to pull up. I had only two tires and double stinted right-side tires and it was really tough. It’s the way it goes in IMSA. We got the best points we could get under the circumstances, and we’ll go on to the next one.”
