| Drivers of the powerful, nimble Cadillac DPi-V.R prep for first sprint of the season |
| DETROIT (April 6, 2022) – Pursuit of the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Series DPi championship is a marathon – with intermittent sprints. Following a DPi podium sweep last month in the 12-hour race at Sebring and a podium finish in the 24-hour race at Daytona, Cadillac Racing teams this weekend will tackle the challenging 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit in Long Beach, California, in a 100-minute race. Cadillac Racing “fast facts”: Storylines, notes, statistics, transcripts and moreCadillac Racing 2022 media guide: Historical data, “why we race” and more A Cadillac DPi has won every race at Long Beach dating to the inception of the class in 2017 (there was no race in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic), and last year the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R won from the pole to lead a Cadillac sweep of the top three finishers. |
| “Long Beach last year was definitely a key moment in our championship,” said Pipo Derani, the reigning DPi champion who co-drove to victory in 2021 at Long Beach and will share driving duties this weekend with Tristan Nunez in the No. 31 Cadillac DPi-V.R entry for Action Express Racing. Event schedule 2021 Cadillac podium (from left): Renger van der Zande, Kevin Magnussen (second place); Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr (winners); Tristan Vautier, Loic Duval (third). |
| “A street track is always challenging to be so close to the walls. It’s going to be again a very challenging and a very tight field and difficult race to win as usual in IMSA. You go from Daytona – (a) very big track – to then Sebring – (a) very bumpy track – and then to a street track at California. I think it brings something good for the championship and for the teams to adapt quickly to these changes. “The Cadillac is a fantastic car over the bumps. We saw that at Sebring. It’s a car that copes well with a bump track and normally street tracks tend to be a little bit more bumpy than a normal track. I think this is one of the strong points of our Cadillac DPi and hopefully we can use that to our advantage over the race weekend at Long Beach.” |
| Derani and Nunez, teaming with Mike Conway, placed third at Sebring to share the podium with No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R drivers Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook and Loic Duval, and Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Neel Jani of the winning No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R.The Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R for JDC-Miller MotorSports holds the class championship lead through two rounds. “There’s a lot you can take from Sebring to Long Beach setup-wise and we obviously had a good car there,” said Westbrook, who will be competing in his third race with the team. “I’m quietly confident and just really pleased to get the 36 hours of Florida out of the way because that was my target – to get through those two events and get some decent points on the board, learn as much as I can, try to fit into the team as best I can and get myself a platform for the short-race season. That’s what we’ve done. “To come out of those two rounds with leading the championship, I sort of have to pinch myself. Obviously, it’s early days and lots of race to go, but we’ve given ourselves a good platform. I’m looking forward to Long Beach, but a completely different challenge.” The DPi class will see a balance of power change with the Acura ARX-05 getting a 10-kilogram minimum weight reduction (about 22 pounds) to 920 kilograms, while the Cadillac DPi-V.R remains at 945 kilograms. Cadillac Racing DPi-V.R Long Beach results 2021-2017 2021: Overall winner (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start first – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr Second (No. 01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Renger van der Zande, Kevin Magnussen Third (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start third – Tristan Vautier, Loic Duval2019: Overall winner (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fourth – Felipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa Fifth (No. 84 JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi-V.R) start seventh – Stephen Simpson, Simon Trummer Sixth (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr Seventh (No. 50 Juncos Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start ninth – Kyle Kaiser, Will Owen 10th (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start 10th – Renger van der Zande, Jordan Taylor2018: Overall winner (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fifth — Felipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa Third (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start sixth – Renger van der Zande, Jordan Taylor Seventh (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Felipe Nasr, Eric Curran2017: Overall winner (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start first – Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor 29th overall, seventh in class (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi 32nd overall, eighth in class (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fifth – Eric Curran, Dane Cameron |