IMSA Daytona 24 Hours
Bourdais: Cadillac not the favourite for Daytona 24 Hours win
Cadillac driver Sebastien Bourdais has rejected the American manufacturer’s pre-race status as favourite for this weekend’s Daytona 24 Hours IMSA SportsCar Championship curtain-raiser.
Gary Watkins
Edited: Jan 27, 2024, 5:05 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh took pole for the race last weekend and was the fastest GTP class car in each of the four practice sessions this week, but Bourdais insisted that it is unlikely to be the car to have in the all-important final stages of the race.
“We’re plenty quick on outright pace: we can do a quick lap, we’ve seen that in all the sessions and in qualifying,” said Bourdais, who races the #1 Ganassi-run Cadillac Racing entry together with full-season team-mate Renger van der Zande and IndyCar stars Scott Dixon and Alex Palou.
“But we have the lightest car and therefore the least powerful car, and we know that at Daytona power is king.
“Power has a big effect on the dynamic of the race, particularly in the closing stages.”
Bourdais outlined concerns about what he called the “raceability” of the car in the last hour when Daytona traditionally boils down to a sprint between the remaining cars on the lead lap after the final safety-car period.
“So many times we’ve seen Daytona come down a shoot-out over the last 30 minutes or so, and in that scenario power is what you want,” he said.
“It is probably the car with the most power that is going to come out on top - and that’s not us.”
IMSA does not publish top speeds on the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway, but Bourdais believes that the Cadillac is lacking in that respect against at least some of its rivals.
“In the interactions I’ve had with the other cars out on circuit we know we aren’t so good in terms of top speed,” he explained.
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
#3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Sebastien Bourdais, Renger Van Der Zande
“The Porsche looks really strong: a few times I’ve been in the draft, popped out to try to overtake, and then I’ve had nothing for them and had to pull back in.”
Cadillac’s V-Series.R is running at the LMDh base weight of 1030kg under the Balance of Performance at Daytona.
That compares with 1072kg for the Acura ARX-06, 1051kg for the Porsche 963 and 1031kg for the BMW M Hybrid V8 at the opening round of the 2024 IMSA season.
But the Caddy is permitted a maximum power output of 510kW or 684bhp, less than the 520kW (697bhp) for the Acura, 519kW (696bhp) for the Porsche and 514kW (689bhp) for the BMW.
The two Cadillacs will start the 62nd running of the early-season Daytona endurance classic from the front row.
Pipo Derani took pole for the Action Express Racing team by just seven hundredths from Bourdais.
The race starts at 13:40 local time in Florida.
Read Also:
IMSAThe returning Daytona Prototype king who strengthens Porsche's IMSA attack
NASCAR CupButton forced to miss Chicago NASCAR return in “really good car”- IMSAHow a battle of two American titans will grip IMSA in 2024
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Full 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona entry list
Next article Newgarden on Daytona 24h: Porsche “can close out as good as anybody”
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Gary Watkins
Ford steps up WEC preparations with second test car
WEC
WEC
Ford steps up WEC preparations with second test car
More from
Sébastien Bourdais
Bourdais, Moss headline second batch of Sebring's 75 all-time greatest drivers
IMSA
IMSA 9 h
Bourdais, Moss headline second batch of Sebring's 75 all-time greatest drivers
The unselfish anchor behind Jack Aitken’s first IMSA GTP title, Earl Bamber reflects on 2026 campaign
IMSA
IMSA
Petit Le Mans
The unselfish anchor behind Jack Aitken’s first IMSA GTP title, Earl Bamber reflects on 2026 campaign
Title battles and bittersweet farewells headline packed 54-car Petit Le Mans grid
IMSA
IMSA
Petit Le Mans
Title battles and bittersweet farewells headline packed 54-car Petit Le Mans grid
More from
Chip Ganassi Racing
Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign
Indy NXT
Indy NXT 8 h
Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign
Palou pushes IndyCar’s IR-28 chassis to the limit in rugged Sebring test
IndyCar
IndyCar 11 h
Palou pushes IndyCar’s IR-28 chassis to the limit in rugged Sebring test
'Team Cadillac' strategy delivers dual IMSA manufacturer titles for General Motors
IMSA
IMSA
Petit Le Mans
'Team Cadillac' strategy delivers dual IMSA manufacturer titles for General Motors
Latest news
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
2 h
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
3 h
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 3 h
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
Daniel Suarez will return to Spire Motorsports for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
3 h
Daniel Suarez will return to Spire Motorsports for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe