Despite the recent revelation that Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) will part ways with Cadillac Racing at the end of the 2024 IMSA season, the organization is still a major competitor on the scene, sweeping the win at Long Beach on April 20th, 2024.
So far, the Cadillac V-Series.R race cars have had a rough start to the 2024 season, but redeemed themselves in California with a gamble on tires and fuel that put the two Caddy racers in first and second. Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande, tag-teaming duties in the No. 01 V-Series.R, elected to forego tires late in the race, getting out on track ahead of the No. 31 V-Series.R Jack Aitken and Pipo Derani, who pitted to change all four.
Aitken, who had control of the No. 31 Cadillac Racing machine in the final stint, attempted to track down the blisteringly fast No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R of van der Zande, but couldn’t get closer than 0.564 seconds at the line.
“It was quite cold, then the sun came out and it started to warm up,” van der Zande said. “We left it to the last minute to decide. They made the right choice for sure. Strategy won this race. The tires were kind of gone at the end; it was quite slippery. But I’m very proud of my team.”
Meanwhile, Aitken lamented finishing second.
“It was pretty much the same as the last 50 minutes. I gave it everything,” Aitken said. “It was a big call for them to go on one set, and they jumped us there. I really tried. But it was a great drive by Renger [van der Zande]. Once they had track position, it’s extremely difficult to pass without taking a huge amount of risk. The couple yellows we did have helped Renger to take care of the tires. They lasted surprisingly well, better than I think we expected at the start of the weekend.”
Subscribe to GM Authority for more Cadillac Racing news, Cadillac news, GM technology news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
No Comments yet