| No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R competing at Spa; No. 2 Cadillac is third-quick in sessionSTAVELOT, Belgium (April 27, 2023) — The No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R made its FIA World Endurance Championship debut Thursday during the initial free practice for the Six Hours of Spa, joining the sister No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R on the 7.004km (4.35-mile), 20-turn Spa-Francorchamps circuit.Primarily, Cadillac Racing entered the No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R as a warmup for next month’s centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans, where it will be joined by the No. 2 Hypercar and the No. 311 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R. Still, the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R has proven itself exceptionally competitive through two rounds of its maiden WEC season and the sister car should not be discounted from challenging for the win either. “We never show up to the racetrack not to win, so we’re going to do the best we can,” said Mike O’Gara, director of operations for Chip Ganassi Racing which runs the Nos. 2 and 3 Cadillac prototypes. “It is really a training and learning experience for us from logistics to rules to the car. Typically, we would do a private test beforehand, but today was the shakedown. The car did everything it was supposed to, this is the IMSA crew running the car this weekend so we’re making sure they know how scrutineering works, how pit stops work and just taking everything in and be as prepared as we can for Le Mans.”Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande and Jack Aitken will co-drive the No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R in the race Saturday. Bourdais put 18 laps on the Michelin tires in the morning session and was quick straightaway. Van der Zande completed two laps in the afternoon free practice before stopping between Turns 11 and 12. Due to a self-induced mistake, we are going to have some extra work to do tonight but we’re looking forward to competing in the third free practice, qualifying and the six-hour race, Chip Ganassi Racing said in a statement.  The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R, co-driven by Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook, was third-quick in the afternoon session with a best lap of 2 minutes, 3.388 seconds and ran 58 trouble-free laps in the two sessions scheduled for 180 total minutes but both cut short by red flags. The third free practice is Friday morning followed by the 15-minute qualifying session to set the grid for Saturday’s race on the iconic facility in the Ardennes.The Six Hours of Spa for the FIA World Endurance Championship is scheduled for 6:45 a.m. ET / 12:45 p.m. Central European time Saturday. MotorTrend and MotorTrend Plus will provide both live television and streaming coverage. Radio Le Mans will stream audio coverage of qualifying and the race. Live streaming video of qualifying and the race also is available through a subscription on the FIA WEC app. Additionally, a one-of-a-kind viewing experience is available via the cockpit camera in the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R. WATCH |
| No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.REarl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Richard WestbrookLynn: “Just excited to get this car on the track; another new adventure for us on the WEC team. I think the car performance was good and we’re right there. With WEC, you have to be on it from the start. You have to have a good baseline setup, drivers ready to go because the weather – especially here – offers a mixture of things so we need to have everyone ready and the car in a good window. I think we have.” No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.RSebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, Jack AitkenBourdais after his drive in morning session: “Obviously, we didn’t have any clear targets. It essentially was a shakedown and then we we’re hoping to get as many laps as we could after the systems check and it actually turned out the car ran, and we didn’t have any issues. It went as well as we could hope for. We have a lot of figuring out to do with tires and setups, but at least operationally and functionally the car is working fine and we’re pretty happy how we started. Now we can get going and hopefully have a good weekend.” |