Cadillac was scrapped 26 days after the Qatar race!

The WEC World Endurance Championship in Qatar was almost four weeks ago. But now the results of the season opener are changing dramatically again. Just 26 days after the end of the race, Cadillac was removed from the standards. The number 2 car, which finished the 1,812km race in P4, failed the next technical inspection.

Not only the time but also the reason for the disqualification is surprising. The body of the Cadillac V-Series.R did not match the CAD model of the car submitted to the FIA ​​during the original negotiations.

Cadillac illegal: the diffuser panels are too high and poorly aligned

The first faults emerged as a result of the technical inspection after the race on the night of March 2 to 3. A 3D analysis revealed that the rear panels of the diffuser did not match the comparison model. After the investigation, more tests were taken that confirmed the suspicion.

They are “high (in the Z axis) and poorly aligned (in the Y axis),” according to management’s judgment. How strong the deviation from the target value is was not presented. Management simply noted that tolerances had been exceeded. On March 16, Chip Ganassi-Cadillac team manager Stephen Mitas was called, who confirmed the test results during a video conference on March 20.

Cadillac explains: Dallara error

Mitas presented a report from Dallara. This explained that the components were delivered to Cadillac without quality control due to an error at the Italian chassis manufacturer. In that decision, the administrators also said that there was no intentional manipulation on the part of Cadillac or Dallara.

This means that Cadillac, which only competes in the WEC with one car, and the three drivers Earl Bamber, Sebastien Bourdais and Alex Lynn still have no points in the world championship. In the final results of the race, AF Corse Ferrari and #83 moved up to 4th place. Toyota #7 also achieved a top 5 result late on.

Cadillac Racing and Chip Ganassi are going their separate ways in WEC and IMSA after the end of the 2024 season. The departure of the American racing team was announced on March 12. It is not yet known who will take over Cadillac’s WEC operations next year. Everything at IMSA indicates that the Action Express will also use a second V-Series.R.