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Cadillac displays strong early pace in Fuji

Tire puncture, contact deny pole-sitting No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R shot at podium
FUJI, Japan (Sept. 15, 2024) – Cadillac Racing will take its small victory in the Six Hours of Fuji and build for a larger prize in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season finale. The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R, which Alex Lynn drove to Cadillac Racing’s maiden Hypercar pole position Saturday for what he hailed as “quite a nice victory,” led the initial 1 hour, 9 minutes of the race Sunday on the 2.835-mile, 12-turn Fuji Speedway circuit with Earl Bamber at the wheel.
Bamber led 41 laps before pitting and giving way to Lynn for his initial stint. With fresh left-side tires on the hybrid racecar and running second in the 18-car order, Lynn’s charge was to stay in touch with the leader while closing the door on challengers – all of whom had taken four tires on their service stops – as the team engaged a strategy of saving new tires for a projected late-race battle for the victory. Lynn, who will mark his 31st birthday on Sept. 17, met the challenge and entered pit lane in second place after 1 hour, 19 minutes in the car covering 44 laps. But the race unraveled for the team 20 minutes into Bamber’s next stint when the No. 15 BMW M under pressure from Bamber made contact, puncturing the right-front tire of the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R. Bamber limped from Turn 1 to the pit box for the unscheduled tire change, which took the Cadillac Racing Hypercar entry out of podium contention but did not diminish the strong effort in the first half of the race.
The Chip Ganassi Racing-run team’s quick work in the pits kept the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R on the lead lap to recover and be running ninth and looking to score championship points with 30 minutes left before Bamber got caught out on the marbles, wiggled and nosed into the tire barrier. Bamber guided the damaged car back to the pit box, where it was retired.
The No. 6 Porsche 963 won the 213-lap race. Pole position was the first for the program in 14 WEC races over two seasons and the 28th for Cadillac Racing in WEC/IMSA prototype competition since 2017. Cadillac is the fourth manufacturer this season to claim pole position in the seven races. The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R’s previous best qualifying spot this season was second at Spa-Francorchamps and for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Media resources: Cadillac Racing photo gallery | ’24 WEC statisticsCadillac has qualified in the top four in five consecutive WEC races and will seek to extend that streak and earn a podium spot Nov. 2 in the Eight Hours of Bahrain. In 2023, the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R qualified third on the 3.363-mile (5.412-kilometer) Bahrain International Circuit that opened in 2004.
Driver quotes
Earl Bamber (after starting race and driving 1-hour, 9-minute stint): “Good opening stint. Led the race, which was a great start and was pretty comfortable. Lost a bit of tire grip toward the end and was a little unlucky with traffic.” Alex Lynn (after his first stint): “It was OK. Unfortunately, we were jumped on the stops by the No. 6 and then spent the whole time behind the No. 6 Porsche and trying to keep the other cars that stopped for new tires under Safety Car behind, which we managed to do. With the temperature, everybody is struggling with tire deg.”