Scott Dixon : “It’s a great time to be racing sportscars”
Scott Dixon, the Indycar royalty racing the Cadillac V-Series. R No. 3 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, round four of the FIA WEC, is relishing the opportunity to add an overall Le Mans win to his extraordinary track record.
When Scott Dixon is asked by fiawec.com where an overall Le Mans victory would rank among the many achievements of his decorated career, the New Zealander’s answer is almost as fast as him: “It would be up right there, on par with Indy 500 and IndyCar championships. It’s very special. It’s one of the great races that everybody wants to win and probably one of the most difficult by far to win.”
For the second year running, the six-time IndyCar champion teams up with Le Mans-born Sébastien Bourdais and Dutch driver Renger van der Zande aboard the Dallara-chassied Cadillac V-Series.R No. 3 challenger. Last time around at La Sarthe, the Caddy pulled off a remarkable recovery after a series of setbacks to clinch a fourth-place finish, just behind the FIA WEC-committed blue-liveried American No. 2 prototype. “As far as LMDh cars go, we did a really good job with third and fourth. We were kind of best in category, opposed to the Hypercars that were too fast for us.”
“Everything’s gone pretty good!”
So far, the Cadillac No. 3 is on par to match or better last year’s results. The yellow-liveried Hypercar will be the only Cadillac challenging for Hyperpole this Thursday night - the No. 2 will serve a grid penalty - courtesy of Bourdais’ lightning quick effort that was only bettered by BMW M Team WRT’s Dries Vanthoor during Wednesday’s qualifying. “Seb did a great job, even with traffic”, underlines Scott. “I think he would have been maybe two or three tenths up the road as well. It’s nice to see the car has good speed. You never really know how your speed is going to be when you come here. Everything’s gone pretty good!”
From his own account, Scott Dixon has not found it hard to temporarily ditch the single-seater IndyCar he is used to to get to grips again with sportscars racing. In the week leading to the Indianapolis 500 last May, the New-Zealand national did a sim day for Le Mans, in order to make sure he knows the systems as well as the procedures. But nothing compares to track action, especially at La Sarthe. “In the first session, you’re always a little more careful, because the last thing you want to do is wreck the car.”
It would be a shame considering that, according to Scott, the car and the team have both stepped up since last year. “We improved in cornering and we are more efficient in some other areas. Procedure-wise, everybody is working well together, which helps the drivers and set-ups. Everybody knows their job and what they need to do better than last year.”
The thing is, it has not gone unnoticed by the Cadillac Racing driver that the competition level has dramatically increased. “The only downside to us getting better is that everybody’s got better too. Every team has done a better job. We’ve obviously got a lot more Hypercars here this year, and some really fast ones”, adds Scott Dixon, mentioning his opponents’ straight line speed, an area in which the Cadillacs have not flourished so far. Still, the 43-year-old champion has lauded the growth of the endurance series. “It might be the best of all time. What the ACO, FIA, WEC and IMSA have done globally to enable running very similar cars in many different countries is huge. It helps the manufacturers commit and they have more of a reach. It’s pretty exciting to see. For fans, manufacturers and drivers, it’s a great time to be racing sportscars.”
