Sebastien Bourdais has been confirmed for his third FIA WEC Hypercar outing of the season, positioned in becoming a member of Cadillac Racing’s Hypercar line-up for the 8 Hours of Bahrain on Nov. 2.
The Frenchman, who gained IMSA’s Petit Le Mans season finale final weekend, will share the No. 2 Cadillac V-Collection.R with Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn subsequent month, including to his WEC appearances with the crew at Qatar and Le Mans earlier within the season.
“It’s good to get again within the automobile with Alex and Earl,” stated Bourdais, who competed with Cadillac Racing full time within the Ganassi-run V-Collection.R in IMSA’s GTP class. “We began off the season very well [in Qatar] and whereas we in the end didn’t get the consequence due to circumstances [a post-race disqualification], the automobile was very aggressive within the race and we definitely deserved a very good end.
“Sadly, it’s been a little bit of a tricky season by way of outcomes — there has all the time been one thing getting in the best way — however performance-wise, it looks like the automobile is in a extremely good window. It’s fairly mild, good on energy and aggressive, so there’s positively one thing to play for and if we may ship it off on a excessive, that might be fairly cool.”
Bourdais – who has 4 Champ Automobile titles on his resume — has earlier expertise on the Bahrain Worldwide Circuit to attract from through earlier begins in each Formulation 1 and WEC’s LMP2 class.
“Bahrain is a extremely huge problem,” he stated. “It’s an especially abrasive racetrack. Tire degradation may be very excessive and utilizing the tire the best option to make it perform with out making it slide is crucial. You must do it with setup, dampers, traction management, you title it, however we’ll attempt to discover some recipes that work and hopefully, we’ll wind up in a great spot.”
The Frenchman’s return to the grid is one in all a lot of modifications to the 36-car entry for the eight-hour finale. Elsewhere within the prime class, Alpine Endurance Group has blended up its crews following Nicolas Lapierre’s appointment as sporting director, with Paul Loup Chatin again within the No. 35 A424 prototype to race with Ferdinand Habsburg and Jules Gounon after skipping Fuji, and Charles Milesi transferring throughout to the No. 36.
In LMGT3, Danish teen Conrad Laursen — who will combat for the European Le Mans Collection LMGT3 title this weekend in Portimao — replaces Clemens Schmid aboard Akkodis ASP Group’s No. 78 Lexus RC F LMGT3.
There may be additionally a double substitution within the No. 88 Proton Competitors Mustang. Mikkel Pedersen and Christian Ried make manner for 2018 European Le Mans Collection LMGTE champion Giorgio Roda — returning to WEC for the primary time since Le Mans again in June – and countryman Giammarco Levorato, himself a a number of ELMS race winner.
Iron Lynx’s Lamborghini Huracan could have manufacturing unit driver Matteo Cairoli taking on from Franck Perera, making for an all-Italian line-up within the No. 60. It is going to be Cairoli’s first WEC begin since Le Mans, the place he fashioned a part of the Lamborghini Iron Lynx Hypercar driver crew for its two-car effort.
Click on right here for the complete entry listing for the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain.
