As first revealed to RACER.com’s Richard James, Cadillac LMDh team Action Express Racing is set to send personnel to Spa-Francorchamps this weekend to assist Cadillac Racing’s two-car effort as part of the preparations for its Le Mans Hypercar debut in June.
Despite being refused an entry for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the American-flagged outfit feels it is still necessary to have a presence on the ground in Belgium. Cadillac initially planned for Action Express Racing to join its two-car factory effort in the Hypercar field for this weekend’s event, but its request was not granted by the WEC due to a lack of garage space.
Instead, AXR will prepare its Le Mans-bound car stateside in addition to its recce in Spa. On home soil, it will complete an endurance test at Road America with Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken to prepare for the event in France.
In Belgium, Cadillac Racing’s full-season FIA WEC V-Series.R will be joined by its full-season IMSA crew. The additional car will driven by Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande, with AXR’s Jack Aitken as a late addition. The decision has been made for Action Express staff to be embedded in Cadillac Racing’s two-car team at the six-hour race event, primarily to help it get up to speed with the operational side of racing in a WEC event.
Cadillac Racing feels it will benefit both parties to act as a single unit at Spa and later Le Mans for the GM brand’s three-pronged attack at the 24 Hours.
Bill Keuler, crew chief and rear tyre changer on the Whelen Engineering AXR V-Series.R, will take up the role of front tyre changer on the #3 entry for Spa to get an inside look at WEC practices and procedures.
“The biggest thing for me is learning how the WEC does things as far as scrutineering, bits on the car that are different between the WEC and IMSA, pit stops because there are no pit walls there unlike in IMSA and the racing,” explained Keuler.
“We understand the rules, but trying to understand the choreography, what works and doesn’t work is important. It will be beneficial for me to get some experience, and share it with the guys. It would have been great to get some understanding of the #2 car at Sebring, but we were a little busy with our own IMSA programme.
“The choreography does change because of the rules. We have to wait for fuel before changing tyres and not getting caught out on a little rule is key as any penalty will burn you. It’s all leading up to Le Mans. It will be good to go to Spa and see how it works instead of going raw to Le Mans and learning on the fly.”
In addition, Chris Mitchum, Action Express’ director of operations, will also assist the team to get an overview of WEC practices and procedures.
“We’re fortunate to have the opportunity with CGR at Spa,” he said. “We will be much more than an interested watching party. We’ve all gotten to this one-team point where we know each other and work together well. Not being a WEC team or competing in the WEC means there are a lot of nuances that we know we don’t understand.
“One of our biggest goals is to understand the tech and inspection process. Having Bill (Keuler) as a mechanic on the ground to go through that and having myself there to watch the bigger picture and understand the flow is important. It will help us understand what the WEC officials are looking for and how the other teams operate. We want to take in as much as we can, this is the best we can do without actually operating a car there.”
When AXR make its Le Mans debut in June it will utilise a brand new V-Series.R, built specifically for Le Mans 24 Hours programme, and use #311 as its race number. In addition to the planned endurance test at Road America, the #311 has also been out running at VIR.
Look who decided to stop by yesterday evening 👀 @AX_Racing / @FIAWEC / @24hoursoflemans pic.twitter.com/hD1K7hQ3Zv
— VIRginia International Raceway (@VIRNow) April 20, 2023
Cadillac Racing has also decided to utilise a brand new V-Series.R chassis for its IMSA crew at the Le Mans 24 Hours this year, instead of converting the car to FIA WEC spec.
