Mayer Shank Racing experiences two accidents with the Acura ARX-06 at Road Atlanta – Cadillac drivers busier – BMW announces Daytona driver
The LMDh cars debuting in next year’s World Endurance Championship (WEC) Hypercar category and IMSA Sportscar Championship GTP class are proving treacherous in the current testing in North America. Just one week after the BMW accident in Watkins Glen, Acura has now been hit – in a double pack.
The Acura ARX-06 entered by champion team Meyer Shank Racing suffered two accidents during testing at Road Atlanta near Braselton in Georgia immediately following the IMSA final Petit Le Mans. For Meyer Shank, testing was over on Wednesday after the second accident.
On Monday, during one of Tom Blomqvist’s stints, the rear suspension broke, resulting in a run-off. As a precaution, Wayne Taylor Racing’s car, which was also at the test, was parked as well.
HPD Technical Director David Salters says: “We had an incident with the 60 on Monday which was due to a component failure. Together with Oreca we found a solution and had a productive test day on Tuesday.” The faulty part has to be redesigned. Both teams raced with a temporary solution.
The Acura ARX-06 LMDh pic.twitter.com/gyArD30MQ8
– Michelin Racing USA (@MichelinRaceUSA) October 3, 2022
Then came the second departure: the MSR-Acura slid out of the Esses on Wednesday. Matt McMurry was at the wheel. Salters: “Loss of grip and a subsequent spin led to an impact. The reason for this is unrelated to our problem on Monday.”
Mayer Shank then stopped the test drives because the car was being rebuilt in the wind tunnel for homologation tests that were currently taking place: “Conserving the scarce spare parts is therefore a wise decision. “
Bourdais compares Cadillac V-LMDh with DPi-V.R
Meanwhile, the spectacular-sounding Cadillac V-LMDh is making its drivers sweat. Sebastien Bourdais was taken a little out of his DPi comfort zone, as he admits: “The car has almost 700 hp. When you couple that with significantly less downforce, it’s a car that makes you sweat. “
The Cadillac V-LMDh is thunderous! The next era of @IMSA is going to be quite exciting.@PipoDerani / @CGRTeams pic. twitter.com/K5dd8XxShw
– Michelin Racing USA (@MichelinRaceUSA) October 3, 2022
“We have to work properly now. You have good mechanical grip, but the weight [100 kilograms more than the DPi] makes up for some of that. In terms of aero, you get to the limit relatively quickly, but then you can’t rely so much on downforce. You have to brake further down. The car definitely keeps you up.”
All of Cadillac’s drivers stress that it helped a lot to have tested with the DPi cars immediately after the race, as it gave them a rare before and after comparison.
Even Renger van der Zande, who drove the Cadillac DPi-V.R for five years, is impressed by the sound of the car: “The sound is so cool and really Cadillac. I am really impressed. The same goes for the electric component. It adds more power and puts a big smile on my face.”
Cadillac has made up a lot of ground after a late start to testing on Monday and has now clocked up a total of more than 11,000 kilometres with the Bolide. Testing continues at Daytona in October. Porsche will then join them as the fourth LMDh manufacturer to get involved in 2023.
Wittmann and van der Linde in spring classics
BMW, meanwhile, has confirmed its Endurance drivers for at least the first two races of the season: Sheldon van der Linde, who is fighting for the DTM title this weekend, and Marco Wittmann will join regular drivers Philipp Eng, Connor De Phillippi, Augusto Farfus and Nick Yelloly at the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. In addition, Colton Herta has already been confirmed as the fourth driver for Daytona for some time.
GTP meets turn 12 at @RoadAtlanta pic.twitter.com/nFLNjjNgUa
– Michelin Racing USA (@MichelinRaceUSA) October 3, 2022
“Racing in America is always very special. I’m proud to be a part of the LMDh programme next year,” said van der Linde.
“Daytona is a fantastic race with an incredible history. I’m delighted to be able to compete there for BMW M Team RLL for the second year in a row. The fact that it’s all about the overall win at Daytona and Sebring this time makes the events all the more exciting.”
“I’m really looking forward to racing in the IMSA series again next season and being part of classics like the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring,” said Wittmann.
“I’ve already done a few test days in the BMW M Hybrid V8 and I’m thrilled to be part of such a project. The car has a lot of downforce, a lot of power, no driving aids like ABS – it’s a real prototype. It’s going to be very cool to support the four IMSA regulars.”
Both drivers also competed at Road Atlanta. There, BMW reeled off a solid programme without any major incidents after last week’s accident at Watkins Glen.
