Cadillac Racing aims to make noise at COTA

 Cadillac Racing returns to Circuit of The Americas this week, aiming to deliver a season-defining result in its FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) homecoming.

The six-hour Lone Star Le Mans – the sixth round of the eight-race season -- also marks the WEC’s return to the racecourse in Austin, Texas, after a three-year absence. The race was a fixture on the calendar from 2013-2017. Green flag is scheduled for 1 p.m. CDT Sunday.

Earl Bamber: “I love the fact that we have such passionate fans in America, and I think they’ll enjoy seeing the WEC there again. The fans make the American races. You go to Sebring you see them camping for a whole week. The same at Road Atlanta and Daytona. I think we’ll get a big turnout at COTA and Austin is a fantastic city to go to as well. I think there is going to be a lot of America at the event. Fans will see titanic battles. There is action all over the place all the time. I think it’s some of the best racing in the world right now, especially in the prototype class, and I think it will be a great spectacle for the fans. The teams are upping the level and it’s feeling more and more like a Formula One paddock when you walk through the paddock. (about the circuit) The track is super challenging and it’s going to be hot, so it will be a real endurance race for the cars and the drivers behind the wheel. After the test there, we’ll be well-prepared, and we’ll be able to lean on our American colleagues as well from what they know. I think it will be one of the highlights of the program. A lot of people talk about the climb leading into the first corner, but actually I like the last sector with a really fast, long right-hand corner and the other fast corner to finish the lap. Overall, I think it is going to be grueling, a challenge for the teams for strategy and I think it’s going to race really well so looking forward to it.”

Alex Lynn: “Being back in the U.S. is really cool and important for us as GM. We want to win one of these races and stand on the podium again and that’s our goal. Because it was so hot (during July 2023 test) the grip was so low that actually it was alright. I hope it is a bit higher grip this time with the resurface, but I think that’s the thing with COTA is that when it’s so hot the grip becomes super low, so that actually wasn’t that difficult. COTA is a very technical track, very difficult to get right. There is a lot of lap time to be found with drivers exploiting the curbs. We don’t drive there a lot, so it’s a tough track to nail. But it’s a challenge we all enjoy. Sector 1 is by far my favorite. You’ve got that huge hill to Turn 1, then the big downhill sweeping into what is really a recreation of Maggots and Becketts from Silverstone. It really is amazing behind the wheel, and to watch from grandstands and viewing banks. Austin in itself is such a cool place too. Racing in the U.S. is cool, but that city just adds to it. The people there are so welcoming and for that reason I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love going there.”

(July test days) “The test in Austin went well. The circuit had not been repaved before we tested, though it has been repaved since with the new F1 tarmac. That won’t be too much of a surprise with how our car will react. I believe our car works well on European tarmac tracks like Qatar and Imola, which recently were repaved FIA-grade tracks.”