Chip Ganassi Racing will be competing with the Cadillac V-Series.R GTP package once again when the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship gets underway with the 24 Hours of Daytona on January 27-28.
Ahead of the 62nd running of the prestigious endurance race, Cadillac released a video looking back on a successful maiden 2023 campaign with the V-Series.R.
Chip Ganassi/Cadillac Racing ran two entries at last year’s 24 Hours of Daytona, before continuing with a sole entry for the remainder of the 2023 IMSA campaign, the #1 machine driven by Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande, with Scott Dixon joining the pair for select Michelin Endurance Cup rounds.
Action Express Racing ran the #31 Wehrlen Engineering V-Series.R for the entirety of the 2023 IMSA campaign with drivers Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims, with Jack Aitken joining as third driver for the Michelin Endurance Cup rounds.
Cadillac enjoyed a successful 2023 season in IMSA, picking up two race victories, the first being for Derani, Sims and Aitken at the 12 Hours of Sebring in the #31 Action Express Racing entry and the second being for Bourdais and van der Zande in the #1 car at Laguna Seca.
The American marque also picked up two pole positions and six podiums.
After a consistent campaign, Action Express Racing secured the Drivers’ and Teams’ Championship as well as securing both titles in the Michelin Endurance Cup, which saw the #1 entry finish runner-up in the Drivers’ and Teams’ standings.
In the main championship, the #1 crew achieved seventh in the Drivers’ and Teams’ standings.
Overall, Cadillac secured the Manufacturers’ crown for the 2023 IMSA Championship and Michelin Endurance Cup.
In 2024, Bourdais will once again be behind the wheel of the #1 entry run in collaboration with Chip Ganassi.
The experienced French driver will be partnered once again with van der Zande for a third season with Dixon joining for the Daytona 24 and select Endurance Cup events.
Following testing at Daytona last month, Bourdais spoke about what Cadillac Racing had learned during its inaugural season with the V-Series.R and prospects for 2024.
“Toward the end of the season with the couple of tests we had, we started to learn more about the car and what makes it go and what doesn’t work,” he said.
“It’s going to be a continuous learning process, trying to make numbers fall into place and validate the reads.”
Action Express Racing will field a somewhat different lineup in 2024, with Aitken replacing Sims to partner Derani as a full-time driver and Tom Blomqvist joining as their Endurance driver for the 24 Hours at Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, Six Hours of Watkins Glen and Petit Le Mans.
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