No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R grabs pole at Sebring; No. 01 Cadillac second
SEBRING, Fla. (March 15, 2024) – For the second consecutive race and the second year in a row at Sebring International Raceway, Cadillac Racing secured the front-row staring spots.
Cadillac Racing earned its 25th pole award in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship prototype competition since 2017 as Pipo Derani topped Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) qualifying for the 72nd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac. That total includes five at Sebring International Raceway.
Derani, the reigning IMSA GTP champion, toured the demanding 3.741-mile, 17-turn course in 1 minute, 48.152 seconds to pace the 10-car field. The No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R, driven by Sebastien Bourdais, qualified second with a best lap of 1:48.299 during the scheduled 15-minute afternoon session that was interrupted by a red flag. The field had 4:04 after the stoppage to put in their best laps.
“Congratulations to the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R on securing pole position in qualifying for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac,” said John Roth, global vice president of Cadillac. “We are excited to get back on the track and compete for the overall win this weekend.”
Derani was also the pole sitter for the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona in late January and Bourdais was close behind in second. It is also the same order as the 2023 race.
“It is a good start for the race, but it’s a long race,” said Derani, who will share driving duties with Jack Aitken and Tom Blomqvist.
Notables
- Cadillac has won the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring the past three years and five times since joining IMSA prototype competition in 2017.
- Derani is a four-time winner of the race.
- The race will mark the 100th IMSA start for Renger van der Zande, co-driver of the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R with Scott Dixon and Bourdais. He has at least one victory in each of his 10 IMSA seasons.
- The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R leads the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup standings after the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
- Bourdais holds the Sebring circuit lap record of 1:45.166 (128.025 mph) set on March 18, 2022, in the No. 01 Cadillac DPi-V.R during qualifications.
Peacock will provide flag-to-flag streaming coverage beginning at 9:30 a.m. ET Saturday, March 16. USA Network’s telecast is from 4-10 p.m. IMSA Radio’s race broadcast begins at 9:30 a.m. on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com along with Sirius channel 211, XM 207, Web/App 996, at the track at 100.9 FM, and Sebring station 99.1 FM).
An interview with Pipo Derani (drove No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R in qualifying; best lap of 1:48.152; starts first)
Tell us about qualifying. How is it shaping up for tomorrow?
“It was a difficult qualifying session. It’s never easy when you have a red flag situation and you have to put the lap in. I was told over the radio that I could potentially have a second flying lap if I pushed. So, I obviously pushed but I was way too close for comfort to the No. 40 Acura. I was able to put the lap in but was a little bit disrupted because it wasn’t such a clean lap because he made a few mistakes in front of me, so I lost a little bit of time trying to control that distance to make sure I guaranteed a lap in case I didn’t have a second one. For sure, there’s more from the lap time. It wasn’t a perfect lap because of those things I said. Nevertheless, it was enough to be on pole. It’s never the nicest way to get a pole – for the grid – when you know that no one was able to achieve the full potential of their cars. Nevertheless, it’s still the same for everyone. You still have to put a lap in. You make no mistakes in such a pressure situation. I was able to extract to a certain extent enough out of the car that was good enough for pole. Very hot conditions, which makes it even more interesting how you operate the tires. It’s a tricky situation.”
Where to you think the Cadillac is best around the track?
“I don’t think there’s a place where it’s stronger. If you look at the DPi era, I think the car was better throughout the race. I think in GTP the Cadillac seems to be, at least here in Sebring, very positive on the heat of the day compared to the others. We tend to lose a little bit that advantage at night, I believe. Last year we saw Acura and Porsche very strong at the end. We restarted first and we lost some of that edge that we had throughout the day. We led a bunch of the race last year, but at the end we weren’t as competitive as in the beginning. It’s an area that as a team we’ve been working on from last year to try and improve. Obviously also last year at the very beginning of the race I had a contact with a P3 car that spun right in front of me, which damaged the floor of the car. We as a team are not sure how much of that damage influenced the end of the race. I think my honest opinion is that it’s not a matter of having a part of the track that it’s better for us, it’s more a matter of how the tire is reacting to the temperature. It still remains to be seen if a good car without any damage, if we are as strong as we were during the day, at night. Obviously the 01 didn’t get to the end of the race last year. It’s a bit of a question mark on that point. I would say it’s more temperature related as to a specific part of the track itself.”
How difficult is it to put in a flying lap in a short session?
“Well, the reality is that it’s the same for everyone. It’s not like there was someone who had put a lap in and then all the others were just basically waiting. In the end of the day, when you think of it this way, you just got to go and do the best you can. I honestly don’t feel much pressure in those situations. I feel like I handle it quite well. At the end of the day sometimes it’s better to be a bit on the conservative side and put a lap in than try a little bit over and make a mistake. In our car, I went out with a set of tires, had a red flag. I asked the team to change the tires and go with another new set, which was a risk because we didn’t know how much time the red flag was still going to be on. As you guys saw, as we went out, the 40 car, I think he kept the warm tires from the previous run, so he overtook me on cold tires. That’s the only situation where in that situation you don’t really know whether you’re going to have enough time to get the tire ready to do the lap. I think what helped us is it’s really hot out there and it helped us to bring the tires in a different way on the out-lap so that they were ready. That’s not always the case. It could in a much cooler condition be disruptive to one team or another because you might make the wrong choice whether you keep or not the tires, then you don’t have enough time to have them in the right window for a lap. I like pressure situations like that. I was happy to be able to put the lap in.”
Did you use three sets of tires?
“No, I went out on one, then as we came into the pit for the red flag, I asked them to change.”
What are track conditions like?
“I think the whole weekend the track is not as quick as last year. At Sebring, it’s quite usual to see that happen. Sometimes even during the day there’s periods of the day where you’re much quicker than others. Especially compared to when we were here a month ago during private testing, we were quicker than we are now. It’s just the condition that we have right now I think is a track condition and not cars. I would say, let’s say, if I had a perfect lap, it’s hard to say, but you could possibly be 4/10ths quicker than what I was, which would still be, if I’m not wrong, far from the pole position last year.”
Sebastien Bourdais (drove the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R in qualifying; best lap of 1:48.299; starts second): “It was a bit of a longshot (for pole) with the pit position we had. Couldn’t really put any heat in the tires on the second attempt (after red flag) and started the lap in the tail of the 10 (car). There really wasn’t any gap for me and the Lambo started to check up before the last corner and I knew I had to do the last corner somewhat quick and I ended up really close to the 10, but there was nowhere else to go. Just a shame that they put the red flag on us just before I could complete the first timed lap. That would have been enough for pole. We’ll take out second and go from there.”
Celebrating 50 years
The No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R has a special gold Mobil 1 livery for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac, celebrating the brand’s 50th anniversary. ·Mobil 1 is the factory fill for all Cadillac CTV-5 Blackwing production cars, and has been available to customers in GM dealerships since 1986.
Media resources
- Event guide: Cadillac storylines, bios, stats and more * Wins: Cadillac Racing results 2023-2017 at Sebring. * 2024 so far: Cadillac IMSA GTP statistics. * On-track photos: The Sebring race weekend
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Cadillac V-Series
In addition to being the presenting sponsor of the main event, Cadillac is the Official Luxury Vehicle of Sebring International Raceway and is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its V-Series sub-brand that was unveiled during the Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Spectators have the opportunity to see the exciting roster of Cadillac vehicles, including the award-winning CT5-V Blackwing and Cadillac Escalade, at the Cadillac display in the Fan Zone Saturday from 8 a.m.-7 p.m.
