Метка: Alex Lynn

Lynn was “desperate” to give Cadillac first WEC pole after near-misses

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Fuji pole winner Alex Lynn has revealed that he was “desperate” to give Cadillac its first top spot in World Endurance Championship qualifying after a string of near-misses.

Lynn stated that he “really, really wanted the pole” after qualifying in the top four in the WEC’s Hypercar class every time out since the Spa round in May.

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“So many times we’ve missed out by a tenth or this or that; [there are] such fine margins,” said the Briton, who shares the solo Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Series.R with Earl Bamber.

“I feel personally that I have pushed the team really hard to look into the details and to find those micro-seconds. That is how you improve — marginal gains.”

Lynn, who sealed Caddy’s first WEC pole after finding nine tenths on his second push lap to get down to a 1m29.901s, revealed the two qualifying sessions on Saturday had been on “the knife-edge”.

He explained how he had been forced to make a tweak to the rear anti-roll bar after leaving the pits in the opening qualifying period, which he also topped, and then made a wrong call to abort his first flier in Hyperpole.

“We made some changes from Free Practice 3 to give me more front end [bite], but it was a bit more than I anticipated,” said Lynn. “I had to soften the rear rollbar to compensate and luckily it was enough.”

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Lynn backed off on his first push lap after encountering Dries Vanthoor in the #15 BMW and admitted that “in hindsight I wish I hadn’t”.

Asked if he was still confident that he could take the pole, Lynn said: “As long as no one improved. The engineer said [the time needed for pole] was a 28.9 and I thought, yep, I’ve got that in me.”

The Englishman described pole position ahead of Toyota on its home track as a “small victory that feels bigger than it is”. He added that it was good “to enjoy the small wins against opposition as strong as this” in Hypercar.

“Not a lot” was Lynn’s reply when asked what it would take to convert the pole into race victory in Sunday’s Fuji 6 Hours.

Cadillac was beaten to fourth place last time out in the WEC at Austin earlier this month by two Ferraris and a Toyota, but Lynn is confident that the V-Series.R will be a contender for victory in Japan.

“I think we are a bit faster than them on long-run pace, so hopefully depending on what they turn up with tomorrow we can be in the mix,” he explained.

The six-hour race at Fuji, the penultimate round of this year’s WEC, begins at 11:00 local time on Sunday.



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Austin our best chance of a podium in WEC 2024

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Cadillac driver Alex Lynn believes that the US marque has its best chance of the season of making it onto the World Endurance Championship podium at Austin this weekend.

The Briton expressed confidence that the Caddy V-Series.R LMDh run by Chip Ganassi Racing he shares with Earl Bamber can post its most competitive showing this year after qualifying third behind two Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercars. 

Asked by Motorsport.com if he thinks Cadillac is closer to the pace than at any time this season in the WEC, he replied: “I think we are. 

“Our long-run pace is up there with Ferrari and Toyota. 

“I say yes with caution because in previous races we’ve seen good pace over a stint in practice and then it hasn’t worked out that way in the race. 

“But we feel very good about the race: the car has a good flow about it, and we can brake late and overtake. 

“Our straightline speed seems good, better than at Interlagos [in July], which is important, big time.”

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Alex Lynn

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Alex Lynn

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Lynn stated that it was time Cadillac “nailed a good result” in the WEC this year after qualifying in the top four in the previous three races.  

The solo Ganassi entry’s best result came with fourth place first time out at Qatar in March which was lost when the car was disqualified as the strakes on the rear diffuser were found to be higher than was homologated and misaligned as the result of manufacturing irregularities. 

That means the Cadillac’s top result of the season so far came at the Le Mans 24 Hours when Lynn, Bamber and Alex Palou, who joined them for the double-points WEC round, ended up seventh. 

“We want to have a raceday we can be proud of; we haven’t done that this season.”

Lynn’s third place on the grid behind factory Ferrari driver Antonio Giovinazzi and Robert Kubica in the 499P run as a satellite entry by the factory AF Corse team came after he went for a second run in the Hyperpole session. 

He initially set 1m50.836s before getting down to 1m50.680s to jump up from fifth. 

Lynn admitted that he was “happy with my lap until I saw that the Ferrari had done 1m50.3s”.

“I did a cool down lap and threw everything I had at it, full risk, and luckily found about a tenth and a half,” he said.

The Lone Star Le Mans six-hour race at Austin kicks off at 13:00 local time in Texas.

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Cadillac confirms two-driver Hypercar line-up as Imola WEC entry list announced

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn will drive the Ganassi-run #2 Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh as a duo in this month’s Imola 6 Hours, round two of the 2024 WEC.

Final confirmation of an arrangement that bucks the trend of running three drivers in all races in Hypercar, as well as in LMP1 before it, came on Tuesday with the publication of the entry list for the Italian WEC round on 21 April.

Team founder Chip Ganassi outlined to Motorsport.com at the Daytona 24 Hours IMSA SportsCar Championship season-opener in January an intent to run just two drivers in the Cadillac Racing WEC entry in the shorter races.

He stated a desire on the part of the team to “keep it simple”.

Stephan Mitas, team principal of the German-based Ganassi WEC operation, subsequently elaborated on the plan.

“Over a six-hour race there are some performance benefits to be had,” he explained. “It’s more prep time through free practice, and then over the course of the race, two drivers is a performance gain.”

Officially, however, Cadillac had remained non-committal on plans to run just two drivers in the five six-hour races on the WEC schedule.

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Sebastien Bourdais

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Sebastien Bourdais

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

The General Motors brand stated on the announcement that Sebastien Bourdais would be joining Bamber and Lynn for last month’s Qatar 1812Km 10-hour WEC curtain-raiser that the regular duo would be “complemented” by the Frenchman and his full-season IMSA team-mate Renger van der Zande, as well as “select Chip Ganassi Racing team-mates” through the season.

It added that the team would “confirm the third driver ahead of certain endurance races”.

Laura Wontrop Klauser, road racing boss at Cadillac’s parent company General Motors, also stated that the full driver line-up in the WEC V-Series.R will only be confirmed ahead of each race.

Cadillac subsequently announced that IndyCar star Alex Palou will be joining Bamber and Lynn in the vacant seat in the #2 car for the Le Mans 24 Hours WEC round in June.

Scott Dixon will team up with Bourdais and van der Zande in the additional Ganassi entry for Le Mans as part of his continuing role with the team for the long-distance IMSA races.

Cadillac is heading into the Imola race after its disqualification last week from fourth place in Qatar for homologation irregularities.

This will be the final season of the Cadillac/Ganassi partnership in sportscars.

Ganassi revealed last month that a relationship that began in 2021 in IMSA will be ending at the conclusion of the season.

The driver line-ups in the rest of the 37-car WEC entry for Imola remains unchanged from Qatar.

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