Chip Ganassi Racing has confirmed it will field a second Cadillac DPi-V.R in the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship.
The American team joined the Cadillac family at the beginning of 2021, purchasing a sole Dallara chassis from Juncos Racing for a single-car IMSA campaign that has so far produced one victory and four podiums. The team confirmed this week that it will field a second Cadillac DPi-V.R next year, retaining current driver Renger van der Zande and hiring on French open-wheel veteran Sebastien Bourdais, along with ex-Porsche ace Earl Bamber and former Formula E driver Alex Lynn. Kevin Magnussen previously confirmed he would depart the team to join Peugeot’s FIA WEC Hypercar effort.
In a statement, Van der Zande said he was excited about the team’s expansion to a two-car effort and believes Bourdais, Bamber and Lynn will be a strong addition to the DPi squad.
“It is great news to have Sebastien, Alex, and Earl as new teammates,” the Dutchman said. “They are all high-class, proven racecar drivers. I think they will be a good fit with the team.”
“Sebastien has done everything in the world, he has a lot of raw speed. I know Earl very well from our junior series and he’s an LMP1 overall winner. Alex comes to us from Formula E and has a lot of sports car experience.”
Bourdais joins CGR from JDC Miller Motorsports, which fielded a single Cadillac DPi-V.R in IMSA competition this year. The Minnesota-based team won the 2021 12 Hours of Sebring with Bourdais and fellow Frenchmen Loic Duval and Tristan Vautier.
Bamber, meanwhile, is a longtime Porsche driver and won the FIA WEC LMP1 title with the German manufacturer in 2017. Lynn joins CGR from the Mahindra Formula E team. The Briton won the 2017 12 Hours of Sebring with Wayne Taylor Racing when it still fielded a Cadillac DPi.V-R and is thus familiar with the Small Block V8-powered prototype.
The 2022 IMSA season will kick off on January 27th with the season-opening 24 Hours of Daytona.
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Comment
Big catch getting Bourdais – he still has a lot of race in him !