Cadillac Racing muscled its way to a second-place finish at Watkins Glen during the Sahlen’s Six Hours on June 23rd, 2024, battling adverse weather conditions and tough competition on its way to the podium. Renger van der Zande and Sebastien Bourdais tag-teamed the endurance race in the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R, fighting through rain, humidity, and competitors in the GTP division to pull off its podium finish.
The race was stopped for 40 minutes due to rain, and precipitation made conditions less than optimal throughout the middle portion of the race, but Bourdais and van der Zande pulled through to earn their fourth podium finish in six IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship events.
“Congratulations to Cadillac Racing team and the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R on their runner-up finish in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. Every member of the team can be very proud of their efforts on preparing the racecar for success, from both a technology and durability standpoint,” said John Roth, global vice president of Cadillac. “The podium finish today showcases the remarkable capabilities, expertise and determination of the Cadillac Racing team.”
It wasn’t easy, though, as the final restart flew with less than 17 minutes left on the clock. Van der Zande flew past the polewinning No. 40 Acura ARX-06 to take P2 away, and closed on the No. 7 Porsche 963 for the lead. A little more time, and the Caddy team might’ve had it, but instead settled for a runner-up finish, 0.749 seconds back.
“It was really enjoyable to fight for the win. Congrats to the car that won, and I think we’re happy to be P2,” van der Zande said. “We had a good start and had speed in the car on the dry track, but it faded away a bit. We were doing OK until the rain came. And when the track dried out and we were on slicks, we gave it our all. We’ll take the points home to go into the final few races of the championship.”
Meanwhile, the No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R of Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken had a different view of the race. After leading early, the No. 31 V-Series.R spun out. Then, the racer made contact with competitors and swerved off-course, necessitating repairs that put it one lap down and relegated the Derani-Aitken duo to an eighth-place result.
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