THE CADILLAC LMDh WILL START IN JANUARY 2023 IN IMSA AT THE 24 HOURS OF DAYTONA
Cadillac Racing completed its first laps (see link) with his endurance LMDh, a few days ago, a few hours after Ferrari’s Hypercar.
The American brand will race in Endurance Championships from the 2023 season and in IMSA in the USA and also in the WEC World Cup and we should see several examples at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Present in the paddock of the WEC last weekend in Monza, for the current GM program, that of Corvette Racing in GT, Laura Wontrop Klauser, the head of the competition program of GM (General Motors)agreed to receive us to talk about the arrival of Cadillac in LMDh.
At the mention of the first laps of the Cadillac LMDh, Laura Wontrop Klauser was all smiles:
“It went very well, we are really satisfied. You never know what can happen during the first laps of a car. It seemed to be solid from the start and we are looking forward to our first intensive tests with the car. We were already able to do some long runs in the second half of the second day of testing. One thing is certain, the team did a fantastic job, I’m very happy. »
Even if she did not want to reveal the name of the circuit on which this shakedown took place, we can advance by saying that it was close to Indianapolis.
The tests will now follow. It will be at Sebring first, then at Michelin Raceway Atlanta (October 3 to 5) and finally Daytona International Speedway (December 6 and 7), sessions organized by IMSA.
“We have several test sessions ahead of us. The goal is to get to the important IMSA circuits and we would also like to come to Europe to ride. The concern is that transport is quite complicated at the moment so we are working and looking for solutions. This means that our test schedule is not completely complete…”
As rumors linger for the Cadillac LMDh vying for the final round of the WEC World Endurance Championship of the 2022 season, in Bahrain (8 hour race)Laura Wontrop Klauser told us the opposite:
“I know there is talk about our presence in Bahrain, but it’s too early for this car. Our first race will be the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona next January, and I must admit that it will happen very soon for us. We will have two cars entered for the year in IMSA and one in WEC. But we could see a little more about the biggest races of the season! »
Le Mans ?
As a reminder, Cadillac’s LMDh program will be entrusted to two very experienced US teams which currently compete in IMSA, the Cadillac Dpi, on the one hand Chip Ganassi Racing and on the other hand Action Express Racing.
Recall that quite recently the Chip participated with four cars, two in the GT World Championship and two in IMSA, disciplines, where he was in charge of the Ford GT program
In the meantime, the American boss is concentrating on Corvette Racing with her GTE program at the WEC World Cup with a C8.R and at IMSA with two C8.Rs in GT3 version.
At the world level, the carrots are a little cooked for the Championship after the zero points of the 24 Hours of Le Mans…
A mechanical incident on the N°63, the N°64 being pushed into the wall by one of the Oreca LMP2s, when it was in the lead!
“This is not how we wanted our race at Le Mans to end. It was a big disappointment for the team because we knew we could win the event this year. More generally, we are happy with our campaign in the WEC. This has already allowed us to learn a lot. Now we are attacking the second part of the season with the race at Monza and our goal now is to get a victory before the end…”
Done !
The interview having been carried out before the Monza race…
With the GTE Pro disappearing, the only solution to see a C8.R GTE version at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and perhaps in the WEC is to drive one last time in GTE Am before the total disappearance of the GTEs which will give way to the GT3s.
“We are not ready to announce anything on this subject at this time. We are thinking about it and still have to work on some small details.
Interview by Florian DEFET
Photos: Antoine CAMBLOR-TEAM
OUR PREVIOUS ARTICLE ON THE ARRIVAL OF CADILLAC IN ENDURANCE
THE CADILLAC LMDh SHOT WITH EARL BAMBER
