Tag: Chip Ganassi Racing

Dixon ekes out fuel to land dramatic Long Beach GP victory

Scott Dixon delivered one of his fuel-saving masterclasses to triumph in the 49th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, his second around the 1.968-mile street course, and the 57th of his career. Despite running an alternate strategy and making his last …

Scott Dixon delivered one of his fuel-saving masterclasses to triumph in the 49th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, his second around the 1.968-mile street course, and the 57th of his career. Despite running an alternate strategy and making his last stop 10 laps before Colton Herta and Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing’s six-time champion was able to stave off his attackers – first Josef Newgarden of Team Penske, then Herta’s fellow Honda-powered Andretti Global entry – and clinched a brilliant win.

Will Power, Kyle Kirkwood and Alex Rossi were the only drivers in the top 17 on the 27-car grid to select Firestone alternates with the green guayule sidewalls to start the race, with front-row starter Power’s mission very clearly to get ahead of polesitter Felix Rosenqvist as soon as possible.

Rosenqvist made a strong start, but in protecting the inside line he allowed Power to go around the outside, and by the end of lap one his lead was 1.1s, with Rosenqvist pursued by Newgarden, Marcus Ericsson, Herta and Palou. Dixon got around Christian Lundgaard for seventh, while Kirkwood on his softer rubber got Marcus Armstrong into Turn 8.

Newgarden and Ericsson passed Rosenqvist on successive laps, and soon the polesitter was under pressure from Herta, while Kirkwood got another place on lap five, deposing Lundgaard. Meanwhile, there was some internal strife at Arrow McLaren, when Pato O’Ward ran into Alex Rossi’s sister machine at the fountain turn, sending the latter to the pits with a punctured tire, and O’Ward to the pits for a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact.

Herta and Palou got around Rosenqvist on laps seven and eight respectively, leaving him as prey for Dixon.

Up front, on lap 12, Power held a 6.3s lead over teammate Newgarden, with Ericsson, Herta, Palou and Rosenqvist running 1.3s apart behind.

The first and only yellow flew on lap 15 when Christian Rasmussen spun his Ed Carpenter Racing car out of Turn 4 due to a broken toe link sustained in a wall-brush at Turn 11. While he was crashing, poor Jack Harvey of Dale Coyne Racing tried to squeeze between the ECR car and the wall but sustained significant damage on both sides.

When the pits opened on lap 16, Power chose to stop, as did Dixon, Kirkwood, Lundgaard and Scott McLaughlin. Lundgaard was sent into the path of Kirkwood but no harm done. Power, Dixon, Lundgaard, Kirkwood and McLaughlin led the alternative strategy cars in 12th-16th, but Power and Lundgaard had chosen this stint to go for primaries, while Dixon, Kirkwood and McLaughlin elected to take alternates.

The restart was clean, although Newgarden couldn’t extend his lead over Ericsson until he put the repaired car of Harvey between them. Further back, Dixon used his alternates to pass Power by cannoning out of the hairpin and getting him into Turn 1. Meanwhile, Lundgaard’s unsafe release on pitlane had elicited a penalty from race control, whereby the Dane had to give up five places.

Rosenqvist, who had been struggling with brake issues since the start, was the first of the “regular strategy” cars to stop, pitting on lap 29. Newgarden and Ericsson pitted next time around, with Palou stopping and re-emerging between them. Ericsson tried hard to remedy that situation but finally ceded the track position at Turn 8. Herta stopped last of the leaders, emerging behind Newgarden but ahead of Palou and Ericsson.

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Up front, the alternative-strategy cars were now to the fore. On lap 40, Dixon was leading Power by 6s, with Kirkwood 1.5s further back and McLaughlin another 2.7s in arrears.

Newgarden was cutting through slower cars to rise to sixth by lap 49. And crucially, he was staying within 20s of the fuel saving Dixon up front. Rahal pulled into the pits from fifth, but there was a refueling issue with the No. 15 RLL car.

Dixon and Power pitted on lap 51, the Kiwi taking more alternates, the Aussie taking more primaries, while Kirkwood went one lap longer and emerged still ahead of McLaughlin.

Thus Newgarden was back up front on the normal strategy, leading Herta by 3.7s, with Palou another 2.2s back and being chased hard by former teammate Ericsson. Newgarden set some scintillating times, pitting on lap 57 and coming out in the gap between Dixon and Power. Herta went for scrubbed alternates when he stopped, as did Palou. The latter emerged behind the pace-crippled Power, but soon demoted him to fifth to resume his chase of Herta. Up front, Dixon’s lead over Newgarden was down to 3.6s by lap 65 with 20 to go.

Ericsson was the next to pass Power, taking fifth on lap 66, while McLaughlin also struck misfortune, limping the No. 3 to the pits with a mechanical issue.

Dixon was doing a fine job up front, using just enough push-to-pass to squirt away from Newgarden out of the hairpin, but the overall pace was backing Newgarden up toward the Herta vs. Palou battle, an issue exacerbated by backmarkers. The top four were covered by just 2.15s.

At the end of lap 77, Herta struck the back of Newgarden’s car, apparently triggering the anti-stall on the No. 2 Penske machine. As Newgarden struggled for pace off the corner, Herta and Palou shot past to become Dixon’s leading pursuers.

Herta, like Newgarden, could not make it happen, and Dixon chalked up his second Long Beach win, and the 57th of his career by 0.9798s, with Herta just 0.7866s adrift.

Newgarden held off Ericsson, while Power trickled home just ahead of Kirkwood to claim sixth. Romain Grosjean clinched eighth for Juncos Hollinger Racing ahead of the disappointed Rosenqvist and Rossi. Rossi’s new teammate, IndyCar debutant Theo Pourchaire claimed an impressive 11th.

RESULTS

Ace tire strategy gives CGR Cadillac IMSA win at Long Beach

Drivers and teams seemed to be in universal agreement that it couldn’t be done – that nobody could go the full race on a single set of tires as Porsche Penske Motorsports did last year to win in Long Beach. The No. 01 Cadillac Racing crew was of a …

Drivers and teams seemed to be in universal agreement that it couldn’t be done – that nobody could go the full race on a single set of tires as Porsche Penske Motorsports did last year to win in Long Beach. The No. 01 Cadillac Racing crew was of a different mind.

Aided by three full-course cautions in the 1h40m IMSA SportsCar Grand Prix of Long Beach, the No. 01 crew only added fuel when Sebastien Bourdais handed the Cadillac V-Series.R over to Renger van der Zande with an hour left in the race. Through a pair of restarts and a pileup in the hairpin, van der Zande held off Jack Aitken in the Whelen Cadillac Racing No. 31 V-Series.R to win the third round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. It was the 66th IMSA victory for Chip Ganassi Racing, the 20th for van der Zande and 12th for Bourdais.

The No. 89 Vasser Sullivan Lexus led the entire race from pole to claim the GT Daytona victory.

Polesitter Pipo Derani got the holeshot at the start as Bourdais slotted into second from his inside-second-row starting spot. Derani controlled the race at the front for the first half, and through the first full-course caution brought out when Brendan Iribe put the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 into the wall exiting Turn 5 and rebounded into the path of Adam Adelson’s Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, taking both cars out of the race.

Most of the GTP runners pitted around 30m into the race, giving them sufficient energy to make it to the end. Bourdais was the last of the bunch, after all the other cars had taken either four tires or left-side tires. Electing not to take tires as Bourdais exited and van der Zande entered moved the No. 01 out in front of the No. 31, a track position they would never relinquish.

“When we woke up this morning, it was quite cold,” explained van der Zande. “And the sun came out at one point and it started to warm up, so we really left it until the last minute to decide. I think that’s the best you can do in racing. If you plan a start or where to go at the start, it never turns out the same way. So in this case, as well, and with tires it’s something to make the decision right at the spot. They made the right choice for sure.”

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Of course, that meant that at the end of the race, van der Zande had much older tires under him than Aitken did since the No. 31 took left-side tires. Aitken said he could see van der Zande struggling, but Long Beach is a tough place to pass under any circumstances, and the difference in grip wasn’t great enough.

“It was a handful – especially easy to look up the fronts, which at a street track I think is the end of the race most of the time. So taking it easy. When I got in the car I knew I had to keep the tires alive. So keeping control of the race and just don’t over push it, don’t over drive those tires so I have some some rubber left at the end of the race, was the key for me to how I managed the tires and it worked out that way. And traffic got really hairy at one point because the Lamborghini and the Aston Martin were fighting into … I think it was Turn 8, and we almost wrecked right there. I think those yellows always help for tire degradation, so that was nice,” van der Zande added.

BMW M Team RLL had high hopes for a good finish after Nick Yelloly qualified the No. 25 M Hybrid V8 in second, only 0.009s off Derani’s pole. But it was one misfortune after another for Yelloly and De Phillippi, starting with getting passed by Nick Tandy in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 10 minutes into the race for third position. It went downhill from there. The No. 25 hadn’t pitted as the second caution came out when Lous Deletraz put the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura into the wall in Turn 1, and ended up losing another position in the pit stop.

Chasing Nasr, De Phillippi tagged him in the back heading into Turn 9. The No. 25 suffered further damage to the nose in a pileup at the hairpin, started by Loris Spinelli in the No. 78 Forte Racing by USRT Lamborghini Huracan making contact with Mathieu Jaminet’s No. 6 PPM 963 and spinning the Porsche. After a nose change, De Phillippi buried the car into the tires at at Turn 6, bringing out the race’s third and final full-course caution with 16 minutes to go.

The No. 25 BMW’s troubles, along with the assisted spin for Jaminet, elevated the No. 7 PPM 963, giving third to Nasr and Dane Cameron. As a result, Cameron and Nasr took sole position of the points lead they had shared with the No. 40 WTRAndretti squad with 1082 points. Bourdais and van der Zande moved into second at 974, and Aitken and Derani are third, ahead of Jordan Taylor and Delétraz, with 955 points.

Jaminet and Tandy’s No. 6 Porsche was fourth, followed the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche 963 of Mike Rockenfeller and Gianmaria Bruni.

Vasser Sullivan Lexus came to Long Beach with another ace up their sleeve — a second GTD entry. Jake Galstad/Lumen

With GTD PRO sitting this one out in favor of Detroit next month, Vasser Sullivan Racing took the opportunity to do as it has in the past and run a second car in GTD. Splitting the two regular drivers in the No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3, Frankie Montecalvo and Parker Thompson, and pairing them with the GTD PRO drivers, Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat, respectively, the team doubled its chances. They locked out the front row, Thompson claiming his second pole of the season.

The No. 12 of Montecalvo and Hawksworth had a miserable race, with Montecalvo receiving a drive-through penalty for changing lanes at the start. Later, Hawksworth had contact with the wall, breaking the suspension and retiring the car. For the No. 89, though, it was smooth sailing, and Thompson took his second victory in the WeatherTech Championship (the first came as the endurance addition in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen in 2023), and Barnicoat a second consecutive Long Beach win after he and Hawksworth won GTD PRO last year.

“It’s tough when you know execution is the only thing between you and winning the race,” said Thompson. “There was a lot of pros that qualified, so I was up against a pretty tough field at the start but controlled the race from the start, got a good jump, got into Turn 1, handled a couple of restarts and just saved our Lexus RC F to make sure that Mr. Platinum himself beside me can bring it home. So it was good. It’s really cool that 89 … the message behind that is 1989 was the first time that Lexus came stateside to the U.S., so it’s awesome to honor them, get the win for them. Back to back at Long Beach is fantastic.”

Several of the would-be frontrunners in GTD struck trouble, such as Spencer Pumpelly in his Heart of Racing debut getting tagged and spun out of fourth place by Anders Fjordbach in Turn 6. The No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage Evo Pumpelly shared with Roman De Angelis had been having a good run to that point.

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The No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 had been having a solid race as well in the hands of Albert Costa Balboa, which continued with Manny Franco, but both drivers had minor incidents of contact that left the car struggling at the end. And winner of the first two races, Winward Racing, lost any hope at victory when they were issued a drive through for too many crew members over the wall.

At the end, it was a three-way battle between cars that had started well back in the field for second. The No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 emerged in good position after the round of pit stops, and Robby Foley kept the car started by Patrick Gallagher in second.

Korthoff/Preston Motorsports had a rough start to their weekend, Mikael Grenier plastering the No. 32 Mercedes AMG into the wall in the first practice session and thus missing the second. With little practice, Grenier qualified the car in sixth and kept the car clean before handing over to Mike Skeen in fourth. Skeen benefitted from Pumpelly’s problems to get to third and proceeded to hound Foley, but could never get by.

The drive of the race, though, would likely go to the drivers that finished fourth. The No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 skipped qualifying to change an engine and started at the back. Sheena Monk moved up a few positions to 11th. After pit stops, Stevan McAleer, in his first stint as full-time partner to Monk, moved the car from 12th to fourth, and was on Skeen’s tail at the checker.

The No. 55 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 of Giammarco Levorato and Corey Lewis finished fifth, followed by Orey Fidany and Matthew Bell in the No. 13 AWA Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Russell Ward and Philip Ellis retain the GTD points lead for Winward despite a seventh-place finish with 987 points. Gallagher and Foley moved into second with 802 and Thompson is third in the points at 792 as the series heads next to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on May 10-12.

RESULTS

Palou dominates unconventional Thermal Club tire chess match

Alex Palou led from pole to start the opening 10-lap frame of the $1 Million Challenge for Chip Ganassi Racing and had Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin and Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist close behind him in third as they went into the 10-minute …

Alex Palou led from pole to start the opening 10-lap frame of the $1 Million Challenge for Chip Ganassi Racing and had Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin and Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist close behind him in third as they went into the 10-minute halftime and prepared for the final 10-lap race for the money.

Once the all-star race was over, the same top three stood atop the podium as Palou controlled the non-points race from start to finish, capturing $500,000 for first place. McLaughlin got $350,000 for second, and Rosenqvist delivered $250,000 for his team.

It was a masterful performance by the reigning IndyCar champion who crossed the finish line with 5.7s in hand over McLaughlin and demonstrated his incredible ability to make speed while saving his tires. The opening race of the year at St. Petersburg was all about fuel conservation, and at The Thermal Club, the trick of the day was tire conservation.

“The car was amazing,” Palou said. “Super proud. All weekend it’s been amazing. I was a bit surprised how the competitors treated the first 10 laps with tire conserving.”

At the back of the 12-car field during the initial 10-lap stanza, Colton Herta went into instant tire-saving mode as he completed the first lap a full 12s off Palou’s pace. With drivers required to use a single set of tires for the two-part 20-lap finale, the strategy deployed for the Andretti Global driver—who started last—was to finish last and start the 10-lap closer with the freshest rubber in the field.

He was soon joined in the heavy slow-down by Agustin Canapino in 11th and Alexander Rossi in 10th. The entire Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team—Graham Rahal, Christian Lundgaard, and Pietro Fittipaldi—also added their name to the tire-saving brigade.

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Fittipaldi, whose No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda was not fully fueled by his team, was disqualified during halftime for failing to follow IndyCar’s instructions to fill the tank. Teammate Rahal was also out of the race after a sticking throttle—believed to be caused by a faulty throttle position sensor—made driving the car nearly impossible.

The sleep-inducing first-half affair set the stage for a proper fight to see who would claim the dollars on offer for the winner. Would Palou, McLaughlin and Rosenqvist, who maintained a faster pace, pay for using too much of their tires’ life in the part of the event that mattered least? They would not.

Palou led the 10 surviving drivers to the green flag in the single-file start with McLaughlin, Rosenqvist, Marcus Armstrong, Josef Newgarden, and the forward-moving Alexander Rossi. Newgarden actively defended Rossi’s advances and made contact but lost the position to him on lap 11.

The Newgarden/Rossi exchange gifted fifth to Linus Lundqvist and the charging Herta, and on lap 12 Herta took fifth from Lundqvist. Rossi was next to go by, but went off track and ceded the position back to Lundqvist.

Out front, Palou held 2.7s over McLaughlin and Rosenqvist was a full 6.5s arrears in third. Herta and his fresher tires were fifth after passing Lundqvist with a 7.8s deficit to Palou with 13 laps complete. By lap 16, Palou’s remarkable ability to make speed without compromising his tires provided a 4.4s margin of comfort over the retreating McLaughlin as Herta attacked Armstrong for fourth. One lap later, Herta was through.

No significant changes happened afterwards as Palou cruised to victory.

RESULTS

Palou sweeps Friday sessions with quick qualy simulation at Thermal

Alex Palou swept Friday’s test sessions at The Thermal club, backing up his top morning time with another leading run during the three-hour afternoon session. Palou’s 1m39.337s lap in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was well clear of Meyer …

Alex Palou swept Friday’s test sessions at The Thermal club, backing up his top morning time with another leading run during the three-hour afternoon session.

Palou’s 1m39.337s lap in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was well clear of Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist (+0.443s) and the rest of the field, which had the two Honda representatives followed by the Chevy-powered Romain Grosjean (+0.812s) from Juncos Hollinger Racing and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay (+0.888s) in another zip code.

Rounding out the top six, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard was fifth (+0.954s) and Team Penske’s Will Power was another step back (+1.123s).

With the high ambient temperatures and equally high tire degradation to manage, most teams sat out during the peak heat to save their new sets of tires and put in qualifying simulation runs right at the end of the session which closed at 5 p.m. Qualifying for Sunday’s $1 Million Challenge takes place at 5 p.m. on Saturday, which aligns with the point on the clock where Palou, Rosenqvist, and a number of the quickest drivers focused their simulations.

“I think everyone’s holding onto tires because it really counts tomorrow — especially tomorrow,” Power said.

The first red flag of the event was required after 45 minutes of running when Christian Rasmussen’s car came to a halt, but the rest of the session was relatively clean. Action resumes at 9 a.m. PT on Peacock.

RESULTS

Simpson comes in sneaky fast in IndyCar debut at St. Petersburg

Kyffin Simpson was the top rookie performer on Sunday in St. Petersburg. And while his run to 14th at the finish might not stand out as praiseworthy, the fact that he avoided the kind of mistakes to took out veterans and newcomers alike during the …

Kyffin Simpson was the top rookie performer on Sunday in St. Petersburg. And while his run to 14th at the finish might not stand out as praiseworthy, the fact that he avoided the kind of mistakes to took out veterans and newcomers alike during the 100-lap contest was impressive.

But the part of the teenager’s IndyCar debut that was hardest to ignore was the blistering lap he fired in towards the end of the race which placed his No. 4 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda second on the day, only behind race-winner Josef Newgarden.

On lap 64, the Team Penske driver clocked a 1m00.6795s lap during his dominating performance, and on lap 88, the kid from the Cayman Islands threw down a 1m00.8779 to show he’s got serious speed to offer.

“It was a great first day,” Simpson told RACER after improving nine positions. “All this weekend, I haven’t been so comfortable in the car, but in the race, I just felt like having lots of consistent laps was going to help me, and I just kept going and getting comfortable with the track. I felt like that all helped a lot. And then by the end, when we got on the alternate [tires], I felt so much confidence to just push and push. I was really happy with the strategy and just having that ability to really push it to the end.”

Simpson’s No. 4 program was loaded with debut experiences as Danielle Shepherd had a successful first event as an IndyCar race engineer, as did Chris Wheeler, who called race strategy for the program after spending more than a decade as a spotter.

“That’s what we were hoping for,” Shepherd said. “We came into it and said, ‘Be good and get your first one under your belt and finish strong.’ And he did that; highest finishing rookie. He has a lot of experience elsewhere, so now we need to build that experience up here.”

Wheeler had a simple plan for Simpson that turned out to be the perfect strategy across the 100-lap contest.

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“There’s a lot of people on pit lane that have been doing this for a lot longer than I have, that would have loved to have Mike O’Gara and Sebastien Bourdais up there helping me,” he said. “It was just one of those things where we thought there’s gonna be some desperation going on, and I think we saw that from a few cars. I had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be a fully-loaded yellow race, like we’ve seen the last couple years. And we just decided, ‘Hey, let’s just keep it basic. Let’s keep it simple. We don’t need to be anything extra here. It’s literally race one of 18 — race one of an IndyCar career. Let’s keep it basic.’

“Kyffin did a great job and did everything we asked of him. Hauled the car from 23rd to 14th and put in the fastest lap of the race, only behind the guy who won. We’re super impressed.”

Simpson’s endurance racing experience was helpful on Sunday as he managed risks when necessary and turned up the speed when the time was right.

“It was pretty tough, especially on the start,” he said. “Colin Braun and I went side by side, all the way from Turn 5 through Turn 9, and it was really tight all through that section at the start, just trying to keep it out of the wall. When I was pushing it at the end, and the tires started to get a little hot, I started to make some mistakes, so then I just had to remind myself to calm down. I had Chris on the radio telling me to calm down and just bring it home. The goal for today was just to finish all the laps, and that’s what we did.”

Wheeler was understandably proud to see how far the reconfigured team has come during the offseason and wants to get back to work once the second event of the year at The Thermal Club later this month.

“A lot of this goes back to all the questions that we’ve heard in the offseason about going to five cars, having some rookies, and we just went to five cars and this rookie driver went from P23 to P14,” he added. “I think that says volumes for all the people that Chip Ganassi Racing that really bought into this program and have dedicated so much to the five cars over the last four or five months. Honestly, I’m kind of bummed that it’s over. I wish we were here doing a doubleheader so we could go again tomorrow with Kyffin, but I’ll have to wait ’til Thermal.”

Root joins primary sponsors for Ganassi IndyCar team

Chip Ganassi Racing has added Root as a primary sponsor within its five-car NTT IndyCar Series team. The car insurance company made its debut within the series last May on the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing entry piloted by Ryan Hunter-Reay and has been …

Chip Ganassi Racing has added Root as a primary sponsor within its five-car NTT IndyCar Series team. The car insurance company made its debut within the series last May on the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing entry piloted by Ryan Hunter-Reay and has been present in NASCAR on the 23XI Cup entry driven by Bubba Wallace.

According to the team, the multi-year arrangement with Root will see its primary branding on display “at select races on the No. 11 Honda driven by 2023’s Rookie of the Year, Marcus Armstrong, and the No. 10 Honda of reigning two-time champion Alex Palou.”

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The first appearance of a Root-liveried CGR entry will happen in April with Armstrong’s car at Barber Motorsports Park, and adds to the team’s expanding base of partners.

“We are excited to partner with Chip Ganassi Racing and explore all the opportunities it provides,” said Root business development SVP Jason Shapiro. “As a leading technology brand, Root is always looking to find partnerships that align with our vision for providing a better car insurance experience. Chip Ganassi Racing’s culture of success and winning is a great fit with the success and disruption that Root is making in insurance.”

Chip Ganassi Racing departs Extreme E

Chip Ganassi Racing will not take part in this year’s Extreme E championship, RACER can reveal. The American team was one of the first to commit to the all-electric series, and has competed with backing from General Motors via its GMC brand and …

Chip Ganassi Racing will not take part in this year’s Extreme E championship, RACER can reveal.

The American team was one of the first to commit to the all-electric series, and has competed with backing from General Motors via its GMC brand and Hummer EV product for the last three seasons, but speculation regarding its future in the category has been rife since the end of last year. Now, in a statement provided to RACER by the team, it has confirmed it won’t be participating in the 2024 season which begins in Saudi Arabia next week.

“Chip Ganassi Racing can confirm that the team will not be competing in the Extreme E series for the 2024 season,” the statement said. “We sincerely thank Extreme E for welcoming our GMC HUMMER EV entry as part of their innovative series and look forward to following the series’ growth.

“We will be watching closely as the series and its technical partners continue to push motorsports in their move upward and into a modernized off-road hydrogen-powered race car for 2025 and beyond.”

Extreme E’s transition to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in 2024 is thought to be the leading cause of Ganassi’s decision to withdraw since GM doesn’t currently have a major presence in the hydrogen arena, although RACER understands the team has left the door open for a possible return in the future.

It was a similar story for Abt, which was backed by Volkswagen Group brand Cupra, and formally announced its withdrawal at the end of last season, but is exploring a return with alternative backing. Lewis Hamilton’s X44 team also confirmed its exit from the category on Wednesday, but there will be at least one new team competing this year in the form of SUN Minimeal which will run Timo Scheider and former Abt Cupra driver Klara Andersson.

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“We would like to pay our upmost thanks to Chip Ganassi Racing and General Motors after their three years in Extreme E,” series founder and CEO Alejandro Agag said. “General Motors have been important ambassadors for our electric racing series; however, as we transition towards a hydrogen-powered future it’s a logical move for them to concentrate on continuing their efforts in the electric market. We wish them success in their future endeavours.

“Although Chip Ganassi Racing will not take part in Season 4, we know that they are huge supporters of our unique form of off-road racing, particular with our switch to Extreme H on the horizon in 2025. Chip Ganassi Racing is synonymous with the highest echelons of motorsport and we are hopeful that they will return to the series as we transition to hydrogen-powered racing — a world-first — as an FIA championship.”

Sara Price and Kyle Leduc gave the Ganassi team a win in Sardinia in 2022. Sam Bloxham/Motorsport Images

Ganassi fielded Sara Price — who recently became the first American woman to win a stage of the Dakar Rally — and the late Kyle LeDuc for its first two seasons, and was often among the fastest contenders. A run of bad luck and mechanical issues, however, meant that the team had to wait until the first Sardinia race of Season 2 to claim its first — and only — event win.

RJ Anderson replaced LeDuc at the final round of 2022, with Amanda Sorensen coming in from the ’23 opener in place of Price. Anderson and Sorensen immediately set about challenging for the title, with a run of six consecutive final appearances — including back-to-back podiums in Scotland and Sardinia — which was only bettered by eventual champions Rosberg X Racing. In 20 Extreme E starts, the team scored a total of three podiums, including that Sardinia victory, and it finished the 2023 season in fifth overall, having taken fourth in 2022.

Ganassi was also instrumental in bringing FOX dampers to the series, which delivered an overnight improvement to the overall reliability of the series’ Odyssey 21 car, after testing with the brand during Season 1.

Cadillac confirms Bourdais for Qatar WEC opener

Cadillac Racing has announced that Sebastien Bourdais will join the team’s full-season FIA World Endurance Championship pairing of Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn in the No. 2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R for the season opener at Qatar on March 2. Bourdais, …

Cadillac Racing has announced that Sebastien Bourdais will join the team’s full-season FIA World Endurance Championship pairing of Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn in the No. 2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R for the season opener at Qatar on March 2.

Bourdais, who competes with the Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac Racing team as a full-season driver in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, is set to be the first of multiple guesting drivers for the WEC effort drawn from the Ganassi stable. The opening in the car alongside Bamber and Lynn follows the departure of Richard Westbrook from the lineup at the end of last season.

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While the announcement confirming Bourdais for Qatar gives no further specific details on which races will see a third driver, RACER believes that in most, if not all of the 6-hour events, the car will compete with just Lynn and Bamber.

Renger van der Zande is also confirmed as part of Ganassi’s plans for the WEC this season, although there is no indication of where the team’s other IMSA full-season driver will race. Neither Imola nor Spa will be possible due to clashes with his IMSA role.

Beyond that, the team’s announcement referred to “Bourdais, van der Zande and select CGT teammates” being involved in the WEC.

Ganassi’s pair of IndyCar champions, Alex Palou and Scott Dixon, were both part of the Cadillac driving team at the Rolex 24 last month. Asked at Daytona whether he would be making additional outings for Cadillac this season, Palou responded that he would like to “compete in as many races as possible” but admitted that any further races would be subject to his priority commitments with his IndyCar race and test schedule.

“When a team is fortunate enough to have such a strong stable of drivers to pull from, it just makes sense to utilize the talent when you have the opportunity,” said CGR director of operations Mike O’Gara. “Chip Ganassi Racing proved that in Daytona when we put Alex Palou in the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R. Putting Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 2 for the Qatar events is going to give him a chance to refamiliarize himself with the WEC rules and regulations.

“It is also going to allow us to strengthen the bond between the U.S.-based IMSA team and the Germany-based WEC team. We know it is going to strengthen both programs and better prepare us for our 2024 attack on the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”

 

Rolex 24, Hour 2: Ganassi Cadillac takes lead before more yellow

It didn’t take long for Ricky Taylor to get his No. 10 Acura dispatched from the lead, and after a raft of driver changes in green-flag pit stops Scott Dixon took over the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R from Sebastien Bourdais after Bourdais put …

It didn’t take long for Ricky Taylor to get his No. 10 Acura dispatched from the lead, and after a raft of driver changes in green-flag pit stops Scott Dixon took over the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R from Sebastien Bourdais after Bourdais put it into the lead early in the hour. Dane Cameron is running second in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963, followed by Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing.

“We knew we were going to have a fight in our hand and we do,” said Bourdais after his opening stint. “I think the car shows that it’s got plenty of pace, which we’ve never been in doubt of that. But when it comes down to interacting with the other cars, we really have to outbrake ourselves to get by because we are barely keeping up in the straights. It’s good we’re leading and we can definitely put on a fight, but it’s the hard way. It is what it is. We knew we had a strong package as far as optimizing the performance level we have at our disposal, but it won’t be easy if it comes down to a drag race in the last 30 minutes.”

The hour ended under caution after Steven Thomas made heavy impact with the wall exiting the Le Mans Chicane in the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 car. The car suffered a lot of damage, but Thomas walked under his own power to the waiting response vehicle. He was evaluated and released from the care center.

 

Marvin Kirchöfer has pushed the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo into the GTD PRO lead, followed by the two Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.Rs. GTD leader Parker Thompson in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 is separating the Corvettes and the McLaren.

Many teams are double-stinting tires in the early part of the race in order to have fresh sets at the end; the challenge is that the temperatures are as high as they will likely see in the race.

“It’s bad. It’s hard to [single-stint] at the moment, a set of tires,” said Nick Tandy, freshly out of the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963. “I think even after the first stop there were cars obviously on a double. The No. 10 stayed out, and you see what happens – it’s not tenths, its seconds in the end. Whether you do two tires or four tires, you’ve got to start doubling tires because, simply, if we have 30, 35 stints, we have 21 sets of tires. So if you want to have three nice sets for the end, or even more, it has to be done. Looking at the forecast, it doesn’t look like it’s going cool down particularly much at night, if the cloud comes over and keeps the temp in the track. It’s tough, but I mean, the good thing is that Michelin has opened up the window for when we can use the medium and the soft tire so it’s more up to the teams. If the conditions are hot, then you can perhaps get away with a little bit more.”

HOUR 2 STANDINGS

Palou takes Cadillac back atop the Roar under the lights at Daytona

Renger van der Zande kept the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R at the top of the time sheet in the fifth and final test session of the Roar Before the 24 until he was bumped out of the top spot…by his teammate. Alex Palou ended up with the best …

Renger van der Zande kept the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R at the top of the time sheet in the fifth and final test session of the Roar Before the 24 until he was bumped out of the top spot…by his teammate. Alex Palou ended up with the best time of the night in the Chip Ganassi Racing car, turning a 1m35.705s lap. For those keeping score at home, that’s Cadillac setting the best time in three sessions (the other two were the No. 31 Whelen Engineering V-Series.R) and Porsche two.

While BMW and Acura never set the fast time in a session, BMW can at least claim one unique honor – the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8 was in the top three every session courtesy of Connor De Phillippi. In this nighttime run, De Phillippi was 0.277s off Palou’s best, in second. Kevin Estre was third quickest in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 at 1m35.984s despite the car losing a wheel early in the session, with Filipe Albuquerque in fourth to make it all four manufacturers in the top four. Jack Aitken completed the top five in the No. 31 Cadillac, which went to the garage after only a couple of laps due to a broken suspension, but emerged in enough time to knock out 22 laps.

The Roar’s night session is often critical because it’s a good opportunity for teams to figure out how their cars will change as temperatures drop during after sundown. However, this evening’s session was about 10 degrees F cooler than the overnight low is expected to be next Sunday morning — 55 degrees F.

“Today was kind of an outlier when you look at the forecast, what’s in store for us for the race, so with the temperature the car changes,” said Tom Blomqvist, driver of the No. 31 with Aitken and Pipo Derani. “We went through our paces, the normal progression of preparations, and [were] not really chasing anything. Qualifying is important and the car is in a good spot; it’s working well. I believe we’re in position to fight for the pole. That is the mini target for now until we get to the main prize next week.”

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Scott Huffaker set the best time in LMP2 with a 1m38.270s lap in the No. 20 MDK by High Class Racing ORECA, followed by Matthieu Vaxiviere in the No. 88 AF Corse ORECA at 1m38.664s. Charles Milesi was only 0.01s off in the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA. The No. 74 Riley Motorsports (Felipe Fraga) and No. 22 United Autosports USA (Felix Rosenqvist) ORECAs rounded out the top five.

Eddie Cheever took the No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 to the top of the GTD charts, as well as in GT overall. Driving the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, Jan Heylen was 0.268s off Cheever’s 1m45.739s lap for second in GTD, fourth GT overall. Miguel Molina put the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari in third at 1m46.11s. Larry Voorde was the quickest of the MDK Motorsports drivers in the No. 86 Porsche in fourth, ahead of Michelle Gatting in the No. 83 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2.

For the first time this weekend, the new Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S hit the top half of the GTD PRO field, shooting straight to first as McLaren factory pilot Marvin Kirchofer posted a 1m45.980s in the No. 9. Dirk Mueller was right there, however, only 0.027s off in the No. 65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3. Daniel Juncadella posted the best time for the Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports squad, a 1m46.387s lap that was good enough for third for the No. 3 Z06 GT3.R that, until right before the session, the crew was buttoning up after an engine change. Laurin Heinrich (No. 77 AO Racing Porsche) and Jordan Pepper (No. 19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini) completed the top five.

All 59 cars entered for the Rolex 24 at Daytona took part in the session, although the GTD No. 17 AWA Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R and GTD PRO No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 only managed a handful of laps after spending a significant amount of the session in the garage.

UP NEXT: A 25-minute GTP-only session at 1:25 p.m. ET Sunday, followed by qualifying for the 62nd Rolex 24 at Daytona beginning at 1:55 p.m.

RESULTS