Cadillac Racing GTP entries finish fourth, ninth in final sprint event of season
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Aug. 4, 2024) – The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R regrouped after an inauspicious start Sunday to the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America to challenge for the victory and eventually finish fourth in the choppy 2-hour, 40-minute race.
The No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R also found itself the object of contact and an off-course excursion that required an unscheduled stop to change the nose assembly and front-right tire. Renger van der Zande and Sebastien Bourdais, who started third, finished ninth after a service stop for tires with 2 minutes left.
After qualifying fifth, Pipo Derani found himself sitting backward in Turn 6 on the initial race lap when the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R was bumped and spun, which dropped the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) entry to the rear of the 10-car field. Derani climbed to eighth and ceded the seat to Jack Aitken after 25 minutes of driving time.
Aitken, competing at Road America for the first time, continued to weave through the 47-car field covering four classes to be running third under yellow with 37 minutes left. He moved to second on the restart with 16 minutes, 20 seconds left and looked to challenge the leading No. 6 Porsche 963. Also on the green flag, Bourdais moved to fourth in the running order.
In the final 8 minutes, the No. 7 Porsche 963 overtook Aitken for second and the No. 10 Acura AXR-06 slipped past the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R in traffic on the white flag lap for the final podium spot.
Next up for GTP entries is the Tirerack.com Battle on the Bricks on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course that incorporates sections of the oval track. The event was a 2-hour, 40-minute race in 2023 and expands to six hours Sept. 22. NBC will telecast the final three hours of the race, with Peacock providing flag-to-flag streaming coverage from 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. ET.
Cadillac Racing photos from Road America for editorial use
No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R
Renger van der Zande: “I think today wasn’t our day. We were in a great position after the first stop. It was one of those days in IMSA where there’s a lot of yellows, and a big lottery. But, obviously, we had a crash, which hurt the car quite a bit and that put us at the back of the field. After that the recovery worked out pretty smoothly but there was a tire that didn’t hold on for the last five minutes to the end. I think P5 was going to be a good recovery from all the drama that we had on the way. But it’s not a good day, also hurts for the championship. The Porsche extended its lead with two of its cars. It’s one of those days that you want to forget quickly. And on top of it I think we had a really fast car. We didn’t have a car to fight with because we’re still struggling with top speed quite a lot, but at least we maximized the setup and performance out of our car, so I’m proud of the team.”
Sebastien Bourdais: “The GT Porsche making contact on the outlap with me, just gave me no chance. I was down on the inside, he knew I was going to go by him in the straight, and I understeered a tiny little bit, but he just turned in and turned me around. And after that I washed out pretty severely behind (Nick) Yelloly in the Carousel, and he was washing out behind the No. 10 really bad too and drove himself off the road. And I was going to run myself off the road a little bit, but I had backed off already and I was going to be fine. But then when I ended up in the cloud of dust I didn’t know where I was, and then I lost it. And then our fate was sealed at that point. The rear tires were squared, and the car was very difficult to drive. And then just went from bad to worse at that point. We delaminated a tire with three laps to go there. So, we just move on.”
No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R
Jack Aitken: “A tough Lap 1, but we did what we had to do to work our way back into it. The race came to us a little bit with the way the cautions played out. For most of the races played it simple and worked our way through the pack by picking people off and with good strategy and found ourselves in position to win the race at the end. It was an interesting race with fuel, different tire strategies. I tried to go for the lead and just had a bit of rubber and ended up wide in Canada Corner and that was the impetus to lose second place to the other Porsche. They were strong today, so take my hat off to them. Then I just couldn’t get back on terms with them through the traffic that quite intense. Then I made a small mistake and Ricky Taylor managed to get past as well. It was a bit frustrating that we came here to win and we put ourselves in that position, so that’s positive.”
Pipo Derani: “This race was all about strategy, getting the yellows right. We came back to put ourselves in position to fight for the win and it was tight at the end. It was really close in fighting for the win so that’s a positive today. Let’s see how it goes the last two races and more points in the bag today. The championship keeps getting harder and harder, but it’s part of the game. You give all you have and sometimes you come out with the win and sometimes you come out with P4.”
