Pipo Derani has elected to part ways with Action Express Racing (AXR) at the end of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season after six years together.
The two-time IMSA champion will not return with the team for next year having agreed to split by the end of the 2024 season which concludes on 12 October at Road Atlanta.
This will mark the end of a six-year partnership between the team and the Brazilian driver, having won the 2021 DPi and the 2023 GTP – and two Endurance Cup – titles in Cadillac machinery.
He claimed three consecutive pole positions this year at the Roar Before the 24 (Hours of Daytona), the 12 Hours of Sebring, and the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Along with his AXR teammates Jack Aitken and Endurance Cup driver Tom Blomqvist, the #31 Cadillac V-Series.R took two second places at Daytona and Long Beach as Derani’s Sebring incident rendered him upside down and out from the lead.
Last week at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, he suffered a driver’s right-side impact into the tyre barrier at the Indianapolis corner which forced him to crawl to the pit lane in his #311 AXR Cadillac.
Derani is currently situated fourth in the drivers’ standings with teammate Aitken as this decision is set to be the first move out of many ahead of the 2025 season and for the GTP category, with Chip Ganassi Racing having already announced their separation with Cadillac earlier this year.
He joined the Action Express Racing team in 2019 after a three-year stint with Extreme Speed Motorsports and their Onroak DPi campaign which earned him his maiden Daytona win on his IMSA debut, followed by the first of four 12 Hours of Sebring wins.
With AXR, he claimed 28 podium finishes so far which included seven race victories: Two at the 12 Hours of Sebring and his sole Petit Le Mans win.
His replacement at AXR for 2025 has not been named yet.
Following this Sunday’s Six Hours of the Glen on 23 June, GTPs will return to Road America, followed by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the season finale at Road Atlanta.
Discussion about this post