Sebastien Bourdais will be part of the manufacturing facility Cadillac group for the ultimate spherical of the 2024 World Endurance Championship in Bahrain early subsequent month.
Bourdais, the outright 2014 Daytona 24 Hours winner, will be part of Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber within the #2 Chip Ganassi-entered Cadillac V-Collection.R for what can be his third look in WEC this yr.
The Frenchman began the season with the American outfit within the new Qatar 1812km spherical earlier than returning on the Le Mans 24 Hours in Ganassi’s second entry, teaming up with IndyCar star Scott Dixon and sportscar ace Renger van der Zande within the #3 Caddy.
“It’s good to get again within the automobile with Alex and Earl,” mentioned Bourdais, who completed third within the just lately concluded IMSA SportsCar Championship with the US arm of the Ganassi Cadillac squad.
“Efficiency-wise, it looks as if the automobile is in a extremely good window. It’s fairly mild, good on energy and aggressive, so there’s positively one thing to play for. Bahrain is a extremely huge problem. It’s an especially abrasive racetrack.
“Tyre deg may be very excessive and utilizing the tyre the fitting means and never hurting it however making it perform with out making it slide is a vital factor to do. You must do it with setup, dampers, traction management and also you title it. We’ll attempt to discover some recipes that work and hopefully, we’ll wind up in a great place.”
Ganassi/Cadillac Racing has been one of many few groups to make the most of the rules to run a two-driver line-up for six-hour races this yr.
#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Collection.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Sebastien Bourdais
Picture by: JEP / Motorsport Pictures
This meant that Lynn and Bamber raced as a duo in 5 of the eight rounds this yr, with Bourdais partnering them for the pair of rounds within the Center East at both finish of the marketing campaign and IndyCar champion Alex Palou serving because the third driver within the Le Mans centrepiece occasion.
It marked a shift within the marque’s method from 2023, when the now-retired Richard Westbrook took half in each spherical together with Lynn and Bamber.
The WEC was planning to mandate three drivers in every Hypercar entry from 2025, however seems to have gone again on that concept after pushback from groups.
Cadillac’s finest results of the season to date is a fourth-place end achieved on the returning Austin occasion in September.
The Normal Motors model will finish its partnership with Ganassi following the Bahrain occasion to start a brand new chapter with Jota, which might be working a pair of V-Collection.Rs in Hypercar subsequent yr after competing in 2023-24 with buyer Porsche equipment.
“We began off the season rather well. Finally [we] didn’t get the end result due to the circumstances, however we definitely deserved end,” mentioned Bourdais.
“The automobile was very aggressive within the race and we performed the quick recreation rather well. Sadly, it’s been a little bit of a tricky season results-wise. There was all the time one thing coming in the best way of end result. If we might ship it off on a excessive that will be fairly cool.
#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Collection.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Sebastien Bourdais
Picture by: JEP / Motorsport Pictures
Different adjustments
Elsewhere, Alpine has shuffled its driver line-up following Nicolas Lapierre’s choice to retire from racing. Whereas Jules Gounon will be part of the group as anticipated, he has been drafted within the #35 Alpine A424 alongside Ferdinand Habsburg and Paul-Loup Chatin.
Charles Milesi strikes from the #35 automobile to group up with Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxiviere within the #36 automobile, taking the spot beforehand occupied by Lapierre.
In LMGT3, Conrad Laursen will exchange Clemens Schmid within the #78 ASP Lexus RC F GT3, whereas Giorgio Roda and Giammarco Levorato will race the #88 Proton Ford Mustang GT3, with each Mikkel Pedersen and group proprietor Christian Ried stepping away from the cockpit for the bonus factors finale.
