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Cadillac hits bumps on Long Beach streets

No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R paces three-car roster in seventh 
LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 11, 2025) – Cadillac Racing will aim for its seventh victory in the Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday from the seventh, ninth and 11th starting positions on the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) grid.
The No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R paced the three-car lineup in the 15-minute qualifying session with two-time Long Beach winner Filipe Albuquerque recording a best lap of 1 minute, 12.964 seconds on the 1.97-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit to place seventh.
The sister No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R, driven by Louis Deletraz, posted a best lap of 1:13.015 for ninth of the 11 cars.
The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, runner-up in the 2024 race in a 1-2 Cadillac Racing sweep, incurred a penalty for working on the car during qualifying that carried a loss of its qualifying times. Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber will start from the rear of the field for the second consecutive race, though at Sebring International Raceway last month Action Express Racing drove through the field to lead 155 laps and finish fourth.
The No. 24 BMW M Team RLL earned the pole for the 100-minute race with a lap of 1:11.539.
Long Beach and Detroit on June 1 are the only 100-minute and street course races on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule.
Last April, Cadillac secured a 1-2 finish to add to its Long Beach victory total since joining IMSA prototype competition in 2017 (2022, 2021, 2019, 2018 and 2017). There was no race in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The green flag flies at 2:05 p.m. PST (5:05 p.m. EST) with live coverage on USA Network, Peacock and IMSA’s YouTube channel for international viewers.
Media resources: Photos for editorial use | Cadillac Racing event guide | Cadillac Racing all-time stats
Overall Cadillac Racing prototype victories at Long Beach2024 — No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R; start third – Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande2022 — No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R; start first – Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais2021 — No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R; start first – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr2019 — No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R; start fourth – Filipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa2018 — No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R; start fifth — Filipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa2017 — No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R; start first – Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor1-2 finishes2024, 2022, 2021Poles2024, 2022, 2021, 2017
What they’re saying
No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.RFilipe Albuquerque: “I think we went to qualifying still sorting out the car. It’s been pretty hard for us; we’re still fighting our way to better to understand the Cadillac. Qualifying maybe was not our forte, maybe in the race will be. The race is open, it’s always chaotic and we’ll do a nice strategy for that.”No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R
Jack Aitken: “It was a mixed day for us because in practice the BMWs look very strong here, like they were last year but I think of the rest of the manufacturers we were looking very good. It was very tight and then we came into quali and unfortunately I think others made a bit of a step forward and we just didn’t, so it was a tough session. We tried to keep chipping away at it, but I didn’t really put everything together. I think we’re unfortunately a little bit behind at the moment, so we’ll do what we can tomorrow. There are still some options on strategy. There is always attrition on these streets circuits and I’m sure it will try to be on the right side of that.”
No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R Louis Delétraz: “Obviously, not the result we wanted and a tough qualification for Cadillac overall. We did try some things, and we definitely did learn some things as well. The race tomorrow will not be easy starting from the back, but we’ll fight hard. There is a lot of strategy on street tracks. We’re learning every lap we are doing and I’m positive we will be in the race tomorrow and fighting for some good things.”