Having gotten over the disappointment of the narrow defeat at the 24 Hours of Daytona, Cadillac Racing is now focusing on starting the 2024 season of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
There is no doubt that the V-Series.R already proved to be one of the most solid cars in the category last season, but it is clear that the general level of competitiveness is undergoing exponential growth.
Furthermore, both the Hypercars and the LMDh are still relatively new cars (apart from Toyota), with a notable margin for improvement for some, and those directly involved realized this already on the Daytona asphalt.
“If we look at the LMDh times obtained at Daytona last year we can see that in the 2024 edition they have grown significantly. We went much faster, it means that we improved in several areas and not just one”, underlines the Team Manager of Chip Ganassi Racing, Stephen Mitas, in the round table with journalists attended by Motorsport.com.
#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Richard Westbrook
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
CGR will still take care of the General Motors car entered in the World Championship, while in IMSA there is also that of Action Express Racing, which came second in Daytona.
The work, however, proceeds hand in hand because Cadillac Racing's goal is to exploit all the fields and resources available to grow the car.
“We have our own approach and every day that we work on a car we learn a lot, so the result is that the evolutions have come thanks to the sum of all the activities we have done in the last 12 months.”
“There has been an increase in performance over the course of a year and I think we can easily see it between Daytona 2023 and 2024, and also on rival cars”.
#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Richard Westbrook
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Having said this, Mitas also silences rumors of possible interventions by using the wildcards available to approve new features on the V-Series.R, which also had technical problems at Daytona on the #01 of CGR.
“There's still a lot to learn about the whole package, so we're waiting to see how much further we can grow.”
“Subsequently we will evaluate whether to use tokens for development, or re-homologate some parts of the car.”
“When you race at the limit there is always the risk that some parts will have problems or break. For us it happened at Daytona on the #01, it's part of the game and I don't think it's a question of the fragility of the LMDh”.
#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Richard Westbrook
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Finally Mitas also addressed the issue of his team, which this year will field Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber as starters, who will be joined by a third driver to be found in the GM officials park for the longer races.
Furthermore there is the new figure of Justin Taylor as race engineer, 'stolen' from Ferrari and already made available to the American company at Daytona.
“Having two drivers for the 6h races will make their job easier because they will have more time in the car and will be able to understand and prepare it better.”
“Clearly for the longer events, so Qatar, Bahrain and Le Mans for example, this formation cannot be fielded, but I believe that in the others it is a decision that will bring benefits.”
“Speaking of Justin, the plan is for him to join the CGR IMSA team and take responsibility as race engineer. He will obviously collaborate with the WEC team and his contribution will be greatly appreciated, but his main role will be in IMSA” .
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