Three Cadillac Racing machines headed to France for the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 16th through 17th, 2024, and all three posted mixed results in the iconing endurance race. The No. 2 V-Series.R took on the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) division, while the No. 311 V-Series.R and No. 3 V-Series.R raced under the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship banner, and unfortunately, the race didn’t go as they had hoped.
Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, and Alex Palou drove the No. 2 Cadillac Racing machine, which started seventh in the 101st running of Le Mans. While this V-Series.R race car led quite a bit of the race, it ultimately crossed the line in seventh as weather drenched the track and upset its handling.
“We led the race for long periods of time. Ultimately, didn’t swing in our favor with the weather at the end. But that’s sort of Le Mans and racing,” Bamber said. “We can be proud as a program about what we’ve achieved, how much we’ve gone forward. Now we just need a result to show for it. Other than that, I think we’ve made big leaps and bounds forward.”
The No. 311 Cadillac Racing trio of Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken, and Felipe Drugovich had a much worse result. The No. 311 machine ran near the tail end of the top 10 until Pipo Derani spun off the course and piled into a tire barrier with under six hours left. After repairs were performed, the race car went back out to complete the race and finished 29th overall, or 15th in the Hypercar class.
“Unfortunately, we don’t know if it was water running across the track from the cars that went by before me or debris, but I did lose the car suddenly and had no time to react,” Derani said. “I had a big impact but fortunately everything is OK with me. It’s a shame because we were trying to fight our way back onto the lead lap. Racing at Le Mans sometimes can be cruel, you live and learn and try to be better next time.”
Finally, the No. 3 V-Series.R had the most disappointing result of all. With just six hours left, the race car suffered a punctured oil tank, forcing it to retire from the race and leaving drivers Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, and Scott Dixon with a DNF at Le Mans.
After the incident, Cadillac Racing said, “With nearly six hours left in the race, a puncture of the oil tank was discovered on the No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R sustained during the Safety Car period. As a result, the race car had to be retired. We will regroup to understand what caused the issue and be ready to race again.”
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