Cadillac enters second Hypercar for WEC Spa 6 Hours

The Chip Ganassi Racing-run factory team will field its IMSA SportCar Championship pairing of Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande in the additional Caddy V-Series.R LMDh at the Spa 6 Hours on 29 April, round three of the 2023 WEC.

They join the full-season Ganassi entry run under the Cadillac Racing banner for Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook.

The move is a prelude to the Le Mans 24 Hours in June when the US manufacturer will compete with three LMDhs, two entered by Ganassi and one run by Action Express Racing.

Ganassi director of operations Mike O’Gara said: “Cadillac and Chip Ganassi Racing believe we are stronger when we race multiple cars on any given race weekend.

“The Spa event will serve as a much-needed dress rehearsal for Le Mans.

“It will be a great opportunity for our IMSA regulars to be immersed in the WEC rules and race procedures in anticipation of the big event in June.”

Laura Wontrop Klauser, sportscar programme manager at Cadillac parent General Motors, added: “Any opportunity that we have to prepare for Le Mans within the WEC rules and regulations is great.”

Fielding the extra car at Spa is possible for Cadillac and Ganassi because the race sits in the middle of a one-month gap between the Long Beach and Laguna Seca IMSA rounds.

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

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

The extra Caddy will run with only two drivers because Scott Dixon, who will again join the team for Le Mans after partnering Bourdais and van der Zande at the Daytona and Sebring IMSA enduros this year, is unavailable.

He will be racing at the Barber Motorsports Park IndyCar race for Ganassi that weekend.

Ganassi’s extra car means there will be 13 runners in the Hypercar field at Spa.

Jota is scheduled to give its new Porsche 963 a debut in Belgium after the delivery of the German manufacturer’s customer LMDhs was delayed beyond the first two WEC races at Sebring and Portimao.

Antonio Felix da Costa, Will Stevens and Yifei Ye will drive the car entered under Hertz Team Jota banner as announced.

A TBA remains in the Glickenhaus Racing line-up on the Spa entry list published on Wednesday alongside Romain Dumas and Olivier Pla.

#708 Glickenhaus Racing Glickenhaus 007: Romain Dumas, Ryan Briscoe, Olivier Pla

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Maximilian Gotz is a strong candidate to come into the line-up to drive the solo Glickenhaus-Pipo 007 Le Mans Hypercar at Spa, and then to remain part of the team when it expands to two cars at Le Mans, after spending time with the US entrant at Sebring.

The rest of the Hypercar entry is unchanged, while LMP2 is made up of just the 11 full-season entries with the arrival of Jota’s Porsche LMDh.

Jota ran a second P2 ORECA-Gibson 07 in the colours of Hertz in place of the Porsche at Sebring and will do so again at Portimao on 16 April.