O’Gara: Cadillac Aiming to Be “Ready to Go” for Prologue

Photo: John Dagys

Cadillac Racing is aiming be “ready to go” for Monday’s FIA World Endurance Championship Prologue after receiving its two containers in the early hours of Sunday morning according to Chip Ganassi Racing’s global director of operations Mike O’Gara.

The German-based factory squad was the only Hypercar team to have had its car delayed by sea freight, which impacted the majority of the LMGT3 competitors and led to a delayed start to the official pre-season test.

According to O’Gara, CGR’s containers arrived at Lusail International Circuit at 5:30 a.m., with the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R car rolled out of its container just after 10 a.m.

“Everyone came here yesterday morning because first we were told an 8 a.m. [arrival],” O’Gara told Sportscar365.

“Once we were given an update of 10 and then it was 2 p.m. and then it was 5 p.m. So we sent everyone back to the hotel to rest and a few of us stayed here just waiting.

“And then about 8 p.m. last night and we gave up and went back. The DHL folks told us they would text us or call us when this stuff was definitely heading this way. That was first thing this morning.

“So now it’s all hands on deck to get it going. But the engineering station is already set up on the back side of the paddock. [The garage setup] is about done. So, that’s good. Next is the car and everything goes with it.”

O’Gara admitted “it will be tight” to be ready in time for the start of tomorrow’s first session, which has been postponed to 12 p.m. local time.

“It’ll be a long night tonight, I think, but we’ll do whatever we can,” he said.

“For us, the important thing is for everything to be right, especially with the car. Make sure telemetry works and radios work and everything’s updated and the car is good and safe.

“If that means missing a bit of track time, then that’s what we’ll do. We won’t rush things to make sure we’re on track right at noon tomorrow.

“We’ll make sure everything’s right and then hopefully make up for it on the back side.”

O’Gara explained that its car was sea-freighted and part of the WEC’s primary freight following an off-season test at Motorland Aragon in December.

“Everything went back to the shop to get rebuilt and then in mid-January, I think Jan. 10, all the stuff had to be loaded on the boat to come here,” he explained.

“So some of these teams that air-freighted stuff tested after that date and air-freighted stuff here and we did not, so we got stuck on the boat. Or not stuck on the boat but stuck in customs.

“I think some teams sent stuff directly from Bahrain to here, but all our stuff’s been back to the factory in Germany and gotten refreshed.

“The car’s refreshed and ready to go. There are a few updates that have just come from the time that the car went on the boat to now, like things that we updated for Daytona, that this car needs to get.

“So next, once the garage setup’s done, the next step is to apply those updates to the car and get it through tech.”

When asked if he personally had been through any similar racing delays or postponements, O’Gara likened this experience to the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020, when he was working with CGR’s IndyCar effort in St. Petersburg.

“We were talking about that, the closest thing in my U.S. racing career I can relate it to is the things that happened over COVID,” he said.

“We were IndyCar racing at the time. We’d go to St. Pete and then everyone’s on hold.

“That and, and probably 9/11 are the two things that are like this. We were, back then, racing in the IRL, on our way to Texas and had to stop and wait and figure out what was going on there.

“But this is crazy being sort of out of our control and it felt like we were way behind, because loads of teams had cars. But being in the paddock yesterday, I don’t think everyone had absolutely everything.

“Some teams had cars, no equipment, some teams had equipment, no cars.

“We just had nothing, unfortunately. But we’re all getting it done now.”

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