Cadillac Racing Powers Through Challenging 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans

For the second year in a row, three Cadillac Racing machines headed to France to take on the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 15^th through 16^th, 2024. The No. 2 V-Series.R took on the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) division, while the No. 311 V-Series.R and No. 3 V-Series.R raced under the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship banner, and each race car had its own set of challenges to overcome during the grueling 24-hour endurance event.

Tag-teamed by Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, and Alex Palou, the No. 2 Cadillac Racing machine started seventh in the 101^st running of Le Mans. While this V-Series.R race car led for much of the race, the trio ultimately settled for a seventh-place finish as weather drenched the track and upset the machine’s handling.

“We led the race for long periods of time. Ultimately, didn’t swing in our favor with the weather at the end. But that’s sort of Le Mans and racing,” Bamber said. “We can be proud as a program about what we’ve achieved, how much we’ve gone forward. Now we just need a result to show for it. Other than that, I think we’ve made big leaps and bounds forward.”

The No. 311 Cadillac Racing trio of Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken, and Felipe Drugovich didn’t have nearly as good of a day. The No. 311 machine ran near the tail end of the top 10 until Pipo Derani spun off the course and wrecked into a tire barrier with five and a half hours left on the clock. After repairs were performed, the race car was turned back onto the track, but had lost precious time and finished 29^th overall, and 15^th in the Hypercar class.

“Unfortunately, we don’t know if it was water running across the track from the cars that went by before me or debris, but I did lose the car suddenly and had no time to react,” Derani said. “I had a big impact but fortunately everything is OK with me. It’s a shame because we were trying to fight our way back onto the lead lap. Racing at Le Mans sometimes can be cruel, you live and learn and try to be better next time.”

Finally, the No. 3 V-Series.R had the most disappointing result of all. With just six hours left, the race car presented with a punctured oil tank, forcing it to retire from the race and leaving drivers Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, and Scott Dixon with a DNF in the event.

Regarding the incident, in a statement, Cadillac Racing said, “With nearly six hours left in the race, a puncture of the oil tank was discovered on the No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R sustained during the Safety Car period. As a result, the racecar had to be retired. We will regroup to understand what caused the issue and be ready to race again.”

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