Klauser: Cadillac “Improved on Something” at Every Race

Photo: MPS Agency

Cadillac was able to take lessons from each of the FIA World Endurance Championship races and improve on them over the course of its maiden season in the globe-trotting series according to GM sports car racing program manager Laura Wontrop Klauser.

The American brand embarked on its first WEC campaign with the new Cadillac V-Series.R with a single car full-season effort run by Chip Ganassi Racing, which was highlighted by a podium finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

It came in a challenging first season for LMDh machinery, which went winless over the course of the seven-round world championship.

However, Klauser said there were plenty of positives to take out of the year, which saw Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook finish fifth in the drivers’ world championship.

“It was an absolute great season,” she told Sportscar365. “The Le Mans results speak for themselves and we were super proud of that.

“What has been so awesome is that every race we’ve learned something and we’ve been able to improve something.

“There’s not a single time that we ran the car in WEC where we walked away going, ‘Well that was a waste of time.’

“I think that’s super important, especially as we get into next year that we just continue to build off of everything we picked up and learned.

“It’s not just things about the car; we’ve also learned about how to operate as a team, how to better support each other.

“Once we start adding those jigsaw pieces together, I think that’s going to look very good for us for 2024.”

While remaining as a single-car team for the 2024 season, Klauser said a level of continuity should help the overall program, which was built up as a brand-new team this year.

“I think what is good about our plan for next year is… We talk about all of the newness. We’ve kept some carryover finally,” she said.

“So we don’t have to worry about building up a new team, having new drivers getting introduced.

“We have the opportunity to continue to take what we’ve been working on in 2023 and keep working in 2024.

“I’d say this year has been pretty chaotic; I don’t think it’s unique to Cadillac. I think everyone’s felt the chaos.

“It’s just comforting to know there will be some things that are just set and we continue to work on all the other bits.”

Cadillac WEC team manager Stephen Mitas characterized it was a “solid first season” for the German-based team that was assembled from scratch for this year.

“Obviously, the competition is super tough and with a new team, new program the learning curve was high,” he said. “The team has come together well.

“Operationally, we’re happy with how things are working, and we’re just have to work on ’24 to deliver on the promise that has been forming over the course of 2023.

“We have a test in December, so a lot of work to come and areas to improve on technically with the car and momentum we’re putting together with the team.”

No Significant Updates Expected for Car in 2024

Klauser said they’re not expecting to pursue any so-called ‘EVO jokers’ to the Dallara-chassied LMDh car for next year, having opted to remain within the same homologation.

This differs to fellow LMDh entrant Porsche, which is pursuing various updates to its 963 prototype.

When asked if any changes will be made to the Cadillac, Klauser said “nothing massive.”

“It’s going to continue growing off of our platform and what we know,” she added. “I think it took a really good solid year to understand what we like and what we don’t like about the car.

“Now we have the process and decide if we are to make a change, what we would want to do. And we don’t want to rush anything.

“A lot of us had to rush things getting ready for ’23 just because of the timeline of everything and parts availability and all the fun stuff we dealt with trying to create these cars.

“We said, ‘It doesn’t make sense to burn an opportunity to do a change quickly. We should make sure we have it set up.’

“We’re going to continue to work with the package we have. If we can make some minor adjustments within the rules, we’ll certainly do that, but nothing massive.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John