WEC
Cadillac and Ganassi to split after 2024 WEC and IMSA seasons
Cadillac and Chip Ganassi Racing will end their sportscar racing partnership at the end of the 2024 World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship campaigns.
Gary Watkins Joey Barnes
Edited: Mar 14, 2024, 11:24 AM
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Confirmation of the split after what will be four seasons has been provided by Ganassi managing director Mike Hull, who told Motorsport.com that “we are ending this chapter” of a long relationship with Cadillac parent company General Motors that has straddled IndyCars, NASCAR and Extreme E as well as sportscars.
He said that it was coming to an end in a “very positive way”, adding that he doubted that it would be “the last time we work with GM on a racing project”.
GM’s statement in response to comments from Hull stressed the successes its brands have enjoyed with Ganassi without making reference to a parting of the ways.
“Our GM divisions have had successful partnerships with Chip Ganassi Racing across multiple series – NASCAR, IndyCar, Extreme E, IMSA and WEC – over the years,” said Jim Campbell, US vice-president of performance and motorsports. “Together we have won numerous races and have had great success.
“We remain committed to winning races and championships together in IMSA and WEC this year and our sportscar plans for 2025 will be announced at a later date.”
NASCAR OEM press conference: Jim Campbell, Chevrolet
Photo by: Gavin Baker / NKP / Motorsport Images
Cadillac and Ganassi partnered in IMSA’s Daytona Prototype international ranks for two years in 2021-22 as a lead-in to the LMDh project with the V-Series.R
Ganassi has run one V-Series.R in IMSA’s GTP class and one in Hypercar in the WEC under the Cadillac Racing banner since the start of 2023, setting up a base in Germany from which to mastermind the world series campaign. Its IMSA entry joined the regular WEC car at the Le Mans 24 Hours last year and will do so again this June.
The decision, Hull stated, will have “no impact” on its 2024 programmes with Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn in WEC and Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande in IMSA.
Ganassi is already working to remain in sportscar racing, in which it has a long history dating back to 2004. It won the Daytona 24 Hours six times during the Grand-Am’s Daytona Prototype era and ran the Ford GT programme in IMSA in 2016-19, which included a GTE Pro class victory at Le Mans.
“CGR wants to continue to race globally in sportscar racing,” said Hull. “We did that very successfully for four years with the Ford GT programme and we feel we have done it very successfully now in the LMDh category.
“Our plan is to continue with the staff that we have in both locations to race in 2025 and we are working in that direction now.”
Mike Hull, Chip Ganassi Racing
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
Hull would not go into the reasons for the end of its involvement in the Cadillac sportscar programme, preferring to talk about the positives of the programme that yielded a podium finish at Le Mans in ’23 and five overall IMSA victories.
“We are really happy to have done what we have done,” he said. “We certainly have a better understanding of hybrid technology and have been fortunate enough to be working with an OEM on that.”
Ganassi had outlined hopes to expand to two full-season cars in WEC this year, but Cadillac opted against an increased programme for financial reasons.
The Action Express Racing team fields a solitary Caddy in IMSA, winning the GTP title last year with Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims, and will also join the Cadillac attack at Le Mans this June for a second year in a row.
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