Метка: Pipo Derani

Derani to split with Action Express Racing at end of IMSA 2024 season

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


One of the IMSA SportsCar Championship’s most successful partnerships of recent times, Pipo Derani and Action Express Racing, will part ways at the end of season.

Derani, who won the 2021 and ’23 top-class IMSA titles with AXR’s Cadillac team, announced on Saturday that this will be his last campaign with a team that he joined in 2019.

As well as his two titles with the team – one in the current GTP category and the other in the DPi class that preceded it – the 30-year-old Brazilian has scored two of his four victories in the Twelve Hours of Sebring, taking a total of seven wins in the #31 Whelen Engineering-backed Cadillac.

He also claimed the 2019 and ’23 IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup titles with the outfit.

“We have mutually agreed not to go forward together past this year,” Derani said in a statement. “We’ve had a fantastic time together with two championships, two endurance championships and many race wins and pole positions.

“I truly have enjoyed my time with this team and with Cadillac. I appreciate everything they’ve given me, what they’ve done for my career and all the good times we’ve had together will forever be in my memory.

“It’s time to go win a third championship this year together before both of us move different ways.”

#31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken, #01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais

#31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken, #01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

Derani’s move is the latest in a significant shakeup of Cadillac Racing’s sportscar program with its LMDh V-Series.R. Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti is hotly tipped to be revealed as a Cadillac factory team next year.

Chip Ganassi Racing revealed that it was parting ways at the end of the season in March after four years with the marque, and it remains in the frame to pick up WTR’s Acura deal – with a return by Meyer Shank Racing also understood to be a possibility for the Honda brand’s ARX-06 plans in 2025.

Current Porsche customer team Jota is expected to switch to Cadillac’s ranks in the World Endurance Championship, while WTR has previously shared its desire to contest the Le Mans 24 Hours in future – which wouldn’t appear to be happening any time soon with Acura – as well as continuing in IMSA.

Laura Wontrop Klauser, who heads up GM’s sportscar racing programs, refused to be drawn on its plans for next year and told Motorsport.com: “We do not have a timeline set for an announcement. It’s a TBD for both programs at the moment.”

Wayne Taylor’s team last won the 2017 IMSA title with Cadillac, along with multiple Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring victories, before it joined Acura’s ranks in 2021.

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No tires strategy “only way” to win Long Beach

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO



After starting third, Bourdais spent most of the early portion of the IMSA’s 100-minute classic in the runner-up spot pursuing pole-sitter Pipo Derani in the Action Express Racing-prepped No. 31 Cadillac.

The pivotal moment of the race came when Derani pitted on lap 26, handing off to co-driver Jack Aitken as the team put on two new left-side tires.

Bourdais pitted the next lap and relinquished driving duties to Renger van der Zande, with the decision made to continue running on the set of tires that started the race, which saved time and propelled them into the lead.

A number of incidents simmered any chances Aitken had of building enough pace up to retake the top spot. In the end, van der Zande was able to hold on and best Aitken to win by 0.564s in a race that went 68 laps around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile street circuit.

“Strategy won this race,” van der Zande said.

“The tires were kind of gone at the end. It was quite slippery. But I’m very proud of my team.”

The concept to take no tires mirrored last year’s winning call by Porsche Penske Motorsport, which were able to take advantage of a harder rubber.

When asked by Motorsport.com during the post-race press conference where the confidence came from to take no tires despite a speculated higher tire wear going into the event, Bourdais shed light on the subject.

«It came from yesterday’s data,” Bourdais said.

“Obviously, we really dreaded a lot of tire deg because it’s the softest of all the tires that there is in the Michelin panel. And it’s kind of weird, but the degradation was actually very little, and the wear was almost nothing.

“When we saw that, we went through the fact that the sun kind of came through the clouds around noonish, track temp is quite low compared to what we were expecting.”

 

And there was the added concern of how difficult the handling would be on new tires that would take time to build up to temperature on the out-lap.

“Being second anyways, we have to try something to jump those guys, so over-cutting them was obviously the call and doing no tires was the best way to maximize the speed on the out-lap,” Bourdais said.

“They only took two tires, but it was the second difference. So, it was definitely the right way to go and Renger made it stick. Obviously, look a lot smarter afterwards, but yeah, we were not entirely sure it was going to work. But that was the only way we were going to try and win this race.”

The outing marked 20th IMSA victory of van der Zande’s career and the 12th for Boudais. The driver pairing also won Long Beach in 2022.

The unofficial championship standings have the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport duo of Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr leading with 1,032 points, with Bourdais and van der Zande trailing by 58 points.

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Race leader Derani walks away from airborne crash

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Derani, a multi-time overall winner at Sebring, was leading the 12-hour endurance race in the No. 31 Action Express Cadillac when he attempted to overtake the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari of Miguel Molina through Turns 9 and 10.

In a shocking turn of events, he clipped the left-front of the GTD class Ferrari, sliding off track and directly towards the the blue and white tire pack. The impact was head-on, and the car immediately launched upwards and rolled over, sending tires flying towards spectators. The car came to a rest upside down and on top of the tire barrier.

Thankfully, the Brazilian driver was uninjured and managed to walk away from the crash under his own power. There were no reports of injuries amongst the fans either.

 

Derani had a lead in excess of 11 seconds at the time of the incident. The full-course yellow lasted over 30 minutes as they made repairs to the barriers.

«I’m alright, thank God,» Derani told NBC Sports after being released from the infield care center. «Dallara and Cadillac built a strong car. It’s one of those days when all of sudden, things go upside down — literally. I’m glad I’m okay. Just a shame, because we had a really strong car. The Whelen Engineering V-Series.R was going strong and as you can see there, not much I could have done. The wall came up pretty quick. The moment I was heading to the wall, I knew the race was over.

«Yeah, first time for me flipping a race car. Not the nicest feeling to be upside down until they can turn the car around, but good that I’m racing in 2024 and not in the ’60s.»

Trapped inside the car

Derani also spoke on the feeling of being trapped, having to wait for track workers to pry open the door of his Cadillac.

«It’s just a little annoying when you try to open the door and you can’t,» he said. «You start thinking whether there is fire or anything like that. But luckily, everything was alright. The safety crew was there quickly, so I was giving them signs that I was okay. Once you can see them outside, you realize that everything will be okay.»

He credited the tire pack for absorbing much of the impact, saying he felt no pain afterwards. As for blame, he said of the initial contact: «We overtake thousands and thousands of cars through a race like this. It’s just one of those moments. Maybe he didn’t see, let go a little bit and there I was. Maybe I was just expecting him to hold his line to the right, knowing that I was going to go on the left. It’s just one of those situations where it happens without you having any chance of thinking whether you should have done something different or not. 

«It’s part of multi-class racing.»

Jim Campbell, GM’s Vice President, Performance and Motorsports for U.S. operations, released the following statement on the crash: «First and foremost, we are glad that Pipo was able to walk away from the incident under his own power and has been evaluated and released from the infield care center. That is what is most important.

«The construction of the Cadillac V-Series.R, its safety systems and Sebring’s trackside safety elements all did their job to keep Pipo safe. With the uncertain condition of the engine and hybrid system, we made the decision with the team to retire the No. 31 Cadillac.»

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