Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi racer Sebastien Bourdais has added test and development duties for the new-for-2023 Cadillac LMDH car to his working schedule of late.
The new car is bound for the GTP class in the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship next year with both the Ganassi and Action Express teams, and with Ganassi entering the Hypercar class in the 2023 FIA WEC too.
So it’s an important part of the jigsaw for both Championships, and, of course for GM too.
“It’s been really exciting; the beginning of a new era. The car is really exciting to drive. The new (5.5 litre n/a V8) powerplant, power units and everything that we have with the new regulations it’s a different package, a different balance between downforce, grip level and power.
“It’s quite cool and I was really excited to get in the car and quite pleased to see what the car was delivering. It’s quite amazing. You sit in a new car like that, in a completely different environment than what was done before, and obviously, you have all the electronics and everything that you have to run through.
“The car was really well born. It just hit the track, we had not done any setup work and it was already quite fun to drive and the lap times were already quite interesting. I think we’re all quite excited and looking forward to the future.
“I was kind of expecting it to be quite different from the DPi and it’s really not all that different at least in terms of feel. Just looking forward to more progress and more miles in that car.”
It’s not the first time that Bourdais has been in at the start with a radically new sportscar programme, he featured too in the development of both the Peugeot 908 and Ford GT efforts in the early days (the latter also with Chip Ganassi Racing).
“Every new car is different, but I feel like there are many more tools these days. Like the car runs complete with gearbox and engine and really pushes avenues to hit the ground running. The car hits the track and it’s already in the window.
“I’ve been part of development phases, especially with Peugeot. That was really rough and raw and had to work a lot and make a ton of changes.
“This was completely different. The car was close and it felt right and it was a ton of fun and I’m looking forward to getting back in it.”
(Excerpts from transcript of media Zoom call)
