| IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA JAN. 29, 2022 |
| DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 29, 2022) – Renger van der Zande set a race lap record of 1 minute, 34.042 seconds in the No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R and Cadillac Racing entries were running 1-4 after six hours of the 60th Rolex 24 At Daytona. The No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R paced the 61-car starting field, with the No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac Dpi-V.R running second and No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R in third. The No. 48 Ally Cadillac DPi-V.R was in fourth. The previous race lap record was 1:34.504, set by Felipe Nasr in a Cadillac DPi-V.R in 2019. Renger van der Zande, No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R“It’s nice to have the fastest lap ever on this track with the Rolex. That makes me smile. The car is really smooth. I’m comfortable with the car on the track. I drove from the daylight into the dark; you really have to adapt your braking marks. I’ve been doing this since 2014 and it’s one of the best events for me to go to. I love the track, I love the atmosphere. It’s very good racing out there, but it’s tricky. Try to minimize the risk and it’s still a long way to go.” Sebastien Bourdais, No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R“Long way to go. Exciting first sequence in the car – three and a half stints. The car is looking good balance-wise. It’s pretty fast. You can put it where you want, and in traffic it’s just a big compromise. Racing with all those packs of GTs and LMP3s, it’s making life difficult and the race management is pretty difficult to assess. It’s always hard to put things in perspective; there’s a long way to go. You don’t want to relinquish too many positions, and the aggression level is difficult to gauge. You’re never really in a rhythm, but overall quite satisfied. The team is doing a good job and our car is solid. We have a great lineup and just hoping to keep the car that fast the whole time and be there at money time at the end.” Earl Bamber, No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R“The race started off a bit more tame than we had in the (100-minute qualifying) sprint race. Everyone was finding their feet, finding their way with the traffic and seeing how long each person can go on fuel. It’s just a big train at the moment and who gets a bit of luck with traffic. A few dicey moments already, and I think it’s going to get more difficult through the night. It’s going to be a tough, long night and who’s there in the morning with a clean car still will be OK. You have to be so alert with 60 cars. I think we all know the race is not won today, so it’s just a matter of cruising around and staying out of trouble. Chip (Ganassi) gave us instructions not to damage anything and be nice and clean for tomorrow. The category is awesome and you don’t want to get out of the car, you want to do stint after stint.” Alex Lynn, No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R“I think we have a really good car, so from our side it’s just about keeping it clean and in one piece for tomorrow morning. I think we have a lot of speed in both the 02 and 01. (About first stint in a Cadillac DPi) It’s not too bad to be honest. I think at this period of the race isn’t the time to be pushing the limit on the out lap. That will come later when you try to extract everything. The back end generates a lot of tire warmth and tire energy, so once you hit Turn 6 and go onto the banking the tires are pretty much there. (About first stint with Chip Ganassi Racing) I enjoyed it immensely. It’s nice when you feel like you’re driving a fast car. That makes everything a lot calmer and you just focus on doing your job. We’re just cycling through the drivers now so everyone gets a bit of time in the daylight. We’ll crack on this evening and see in the morning where we are. (About hoping to meet Dale Earnhardt Jr.) He’s a legend so I’m a fan. I grew a racing fan. I haven’t experienced much American racing as a whole, so I’m just soaking it all in this year and enjoying it immensely.” Marcus Ericsson, No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R“I thought the first stint was pretty good; the Cadillac is fast. I think we had good balance. It did get a bit tricky when the sun set and the temperature went down and you lose some tire. For me, it was a lot of fun. I’ve never done any endurance racing. I definitely had some fun moments out there, some close moments as well. It felt like I got more and more into it the more I was in the car. Looking forward to the next time I’m in the car.” Pipo Derani, No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R“We started (seventh) because of a strategy call in the qualifying race at the Roar, so we were trying cautiously to move our way up. We were able to do that. The car wasn’t ready the first stint due to tire temperature, but we were able to fix that for second, third and fourth stint that I was in the car and the car just came alive. I was able to put in some good laps and move some spots and give the car up to Tristan (Nunez) in third position. At the same time that we’re being cautious, we also don’t want to lose the position because that messes up the strategy. It’s so hard to gain positions, but sometimes so easy to lose them if you get the traffic on the wrong place. We always have the mentality that there’s still a lot of race to go and we want to get to the end (without incident) and be in position to win.” Ben Keating, No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R“That might be the most fun I’ve ever had in a race car. It just did two hours behind the wheel. I didn’t want to take any risks, so my first four or five laps I was off the pace a bit just getting used to everything. I double stinted the tires the second stint, but then after the yellow flag I got a brand new set of tires and being up there with all the Cadillac DPis, with all that Cadillac power behind me, that was a complete clast. I was able to keep up with all of those guys. I’m proud of my lap times. I did a 1-minute, 35-second lap at the end, which is by far and away the fastest lap I’ve ever done here at Daytona. It was just a ton of fun and I can’t wait to get back in the Cadillac.” Kamui Kobayashi, No. 48 Ally Cadillac DPi-V.R“It’s pretty difficult (with traffic) than the last two or three years. We just have to survive at this stage and I think tomorrow will be a little less trouble for everyone. We’ll try to survive overnight and see how it goes.” Cadillac running order at 6 hours:1. No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R, Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon, Alex Palou2. No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R, Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Kevin Magnussen, Marcus Ericsson3. No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R, Pipo Derani, Tristan Nunez, Mike Conway4. No. 48 Ally Cadillac DPi-V.R, Jimmie Johnson, Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Rockenfeller, Jose Maria Lopez6. No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R, Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook, Loic Duval, Ben Keating The race is being telecast on NBC and its associated channels and available on XM 202, SiriusXM Online 972, and IMSA.com. |