Cadillac Racing left Circuit of the Americas (COTA) with heads held high after pulling off a fourth-place finish in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Hypercar class on September 1st, 2024.
The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R of Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber qualified third for the six-hour run in Austin, Texas, the fourth straight race for which the Caddy team earned a top-four starting position in the Hyperpole competition. Bamber took control of the race car for the first stint, battling near-triple digit temperatures during his first run.
Early race contact with the No. 35 Acura almost threw a wrench in Cadillac Racing’s day, dropping the No. 2 V-Series.R to seventh place in the Hypercar field. However, utilizing alternate pit strategy, the team fought its way back forward and reentered the conversation for the lead. Bamber and Lynn swapped places after every pit stop, as they were the only two-driver Hypercar team; the other 17 competitors in the division had at least three drivers on hand.
With just under an hour left, Lynn had control of the No. 2 Cadillac Racing machine. He attempted to track down the No. 50 Ferrari AF Corse, but a late-race restart with just over a half hour of racing left neutralized the field and stalled Lynn’s forward march. While fourth is nothing to sneeze at, understandably, the team was a little disappointed that it wasn’t a podium finish.
“Our goal was a podium at home,” Lynn said after the race. “That would have been our A-plus result. I think we came home with a solid A result. We finished only behind Ferrari and Toyota and we know they are very strong. To be P4 is a rally good day and we should be proud. It’s something to build upon 100 percent. We learn a lot and it was our first race where we could really work on the detail and dig into when we’re fighting for one-tenth every single lap what do I need in the car, etcetera. Just a solid day.”
Bamber agreed, saying, “I think it was a really good day. We managed to execute the race well and did the most we could. It would have been great to get P3, but we came home with a solid result. [Lap 1 incident] It wasn’t a huge bearing on the whole race. We were quite lucky. It could have been worse. We managed to survive, get a good, clean first stint and get through the rest. A solid result and I’m proud of everyone.”
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Comments
Could have gotten a podium but they got hit by another car in the beginning. They had to fight the whole way back to 4th.
I was there Saturday and Sunday….like 91flz said above, the team battled back all day after the early hit and made a good run. It was also the best sounding car on the track. Too bad Caddy doesn’t run two team cars.