Laura Wontrop Klauser: “A huge mountain to climb”

Laura Wontrop Klauser, you have grouped the Chip Ganassi Racing and Action Express Racing teams under the same brand, Cadillac Racing. Can you tell us how this process went? 

This program in general has inspired us all to work together. We had very tight deadlines. We have a completely new hybrid system in the car. The chassis are all new to us, so we had to pull together our resources to get to the point where we had working cars at Daytona last week and to prepare for the Rolex. It's the same approach for teams. If we tried to go on different paths, we would be unable to compete once we arrived at the 24 Hours of Daytona. We had to work together, swapping parts with each other to make sure the cars worked. We had to share our knowledge - necessity may be the best tool you can have, because there was really no other option to make this program happen other than to collaborate. What I think is great is seeing the results of the collaboration, seeing the ability to achieve more of the testing program by having both teams helping each other and running two cars instead of just one. . The benefits are being felt. We still have a huge mountain to climb and we need to constantly push this rock to the top. Fortunately, we are all coming together to make this happen.

What do you think is the main challenge ahead of Daytona?

Managing spare parts has been complicated to get enough and ensure the quality is what we need. Especially with three cars, we want to make sure we have everything we need if we have any problems. In fact, it's just a matter of having enough parts to be able to use the cars. Of course, Christmas makes things a little trickier too. Trying to get things done this time of year is a challenge, but we have a full team on this and we're working on it.

What surprises have you encountered?

The amount of code and software that was written to make this car work is intimidating. We can't have enough software engineers working right now because everything is connected in the car. These are things we never had to worry about with DPi or other racing programs. If a setup is slightly incorrect, it won't roll, turn, brake, or whatever it's supposed to do. The important thing is to ensure that all calibrations are correct as well as the critical safety component. Working on all of this was probably the biggest step to take once we had all the parts on the car to test. This whole program has been a challenge.

Can you explain why you chose this engine package?

Like everyone else, we didn't have much time to make a decision on what we wanted to do with this car. We relied heavily on the experience we gained over decades at General Motors with Chevrolet and Cadillac particularly with the DPi and the eight-cylinder. We did studies as quickly as possible on the packaging of several engines, and after reviewing what we were trying to do, the criteria and the performance requirements for this platform, for us and our experience, it made sense to continue with V8 architecture. This is a new engine for this car, but one that draws heavily on the experience and architecture of engines we have across our portfolio. We have no regrets, especially as we approach our trip abroad to participate in the WEC. I think we represent America quite strongly with our Cadillac and we are proud of it.

How do you see the convergence between the LMH and the LMDh for the WEC?

There has been so much work, countless technical working group meetings, discussions, a lot of decisions that have been made to try to bring parity between the two platforms. Efforts have been made to ensure that this happens correctly. Did we miss something? Maybe, but I really applaud the effortIMSA and the WEC as well as all manufacturers. It's truly a team sport to figure out how to bring all these cars together so they can compete on equal terms.

Was this project a bigger challenge than you thought?

I still have a lot to learn and experiences to have in my career. It's amazing what we've done in a short time with all the economic factors in the world that have influenced the way everyone does business these days. Labor shortages, supply chain… These problems are real and they affect us every day. We have brought some incredible young people into our program who amaze us with their abilities. It's about seeing how we can combine people who have 20+ years of experience with new people who have more experience in this new software and everything we bring on board. You can see old and new people working together and learning from each other. This gave us a great opportunity to grow our family.

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