Mitas “Epically Proud” of Two-Year Cadillac Stint

Chip Ganassi Racing team manager Stephen Mitas hailed the team’s two-year stint with Cadillac in the FIA World Endurance Championship as “no mean feat,” adding he is “epically proud” of his tenure overseeing the team’s European arm in the Hypercar class.

Today’s 8 Hours of Bahrain will mark the final start for the Ganassi-entered Cadillac in the world championship, with the team and the GM brand parting ways before Hertz Team JOTA comes in for a two-car effort next year.

Mitas, a former Porsche LMP1 engineer, was brought in to oversee the WEC program with a base in Stuttgart, with Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber forming the core of the driver lineup across two seasons alongside the likes of Richard Westbrook, Sebastien Bourdais and Alex Palou.

Across 15 races, the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R recorded five top-five finishes in WEC’s burgeoning Hypercar category, peaking with third overall in the centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“Epically proud of what we’ve achieved,” Mitas told Sportscar365.

“I got called at the 11th hour to put this crew together. Basically, we signed a contract with CGR in January of 2023. Our first race was in March of 2023.

“And then collectively with CGR, we’ve grown this program over the last two years.

“I think you see with the results on track, the results in pit lane and the results of the group, race strategy and what have you, the car has been competitive everywhere except for in Imola.

“We’ve had some phenomenal potential results. Spa, we were fighting for the win [and] had some unfortunate luck.

“Le Mans, we were fighting for the win. We had an off that damaged the floor, so we couldn’t compete for the podium, whatever.

“And then, obviously, last [race] in Fuji, we by far had the fastest package and due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, we couldn’t take advantage of that.”

Mitas praised the performance of his team when considering the narrow lead time, but also hinted at some disappointment that the split between Ganassi and GM prevented the WEC operation from fully reaping the rewards of the effort it put in over the past two seasons.

“I’m very proud of what the team has done,” he said.

“It’s no mean feat to do what we’ve done with the project with the resources we’ve had available.

“The guys in the garage, the guys in the engineering crew, the guys in Indianapolis, the guys in Stuttgart and also the support from GM has been phenomenal.

“Normally it takes a couple of years so you can learn how to work together and then you have to learn how to win.

“We were sort of just cusping that learning how to work together phase and moving into that phase of learning how to win, but that’s motor racing.

“What the group has done in two years is phenomenal. I’ve been involved in this business a long time and I can say that this is probably the proudest I’ve ever been being involved with the crew.”

The future prospects for both Ganassi, as well as Mitas’ own Mitas Racing organization, are currently unknown.

Ganassi has been linked to the fledgling Genesis LMDh program in the U.S., while Mitas hinted he has “plans for the future, which will be announced hopefully soon.”