Laura Wontrop-Klauser: “We are racing against the best“

The FIA WEC is back stateside as Lone Star Le Mans, round 6 of the 2024 season, springs into action this weekend with a six hour race at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas (COTA).

There will be a lot of American-made cars for local fans to cheer on with Ford, Corvette and Cadillac all in the mix. As GM Sports Car Program Manager, Laura Wontrop-Klauser oversees Corvette Racing and Cadillac Racing’s involvement in FIA WEC and can only expect those teams to put on a great show of racing and speed.

“We’re very much looking forward to it”, the American manager tells fiawec.com. “Whenever you’re at the home race, you always feel like you need to do well, because you don’t want to disappoint everybody that’s rooting for you.”

In the Hypercar category, it has so far been a campaign of highs and lows for Cadillac Racing’s one full-season entry, the No. 2 V-Series.R. The blue-liveried Hypercar whose thunderous V8 atmospheric engine made it such a crowd-pleaser was disqualified from the season-opening Qatar Airways Qatar 1812km and was retired during the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps following a high-speed collision in the Kemmel straight. The team gained 12 of their 14 points in the Hypercar Constructors championship courtesy of the No. 2’s seventh-place finish at Le Mans.

“It’s been a season where we’ve been learning”, acknowledges Laura Wontrop-Klauser. “We've found some great things pretty much at each track and then maybe it just hasn't come together in the end. It has been a good opportunity to put more miles in the car. The goal was to get to know WEC even more. From that perspective, we are definitely achieving that goal.”

Cadillac Racing notably made considerable gains regarding their one-lap performances. In the past three FIA WEC rounds, the “Caddy” was the only Hypercar to qualify in the top four in each of those events. “While we're very thrilled with the qualifying success and we've taken a lot out of that, I'm not surprised that that doesn't directly translate into racing”, underlines Laura. “Because you'll see drivers that maybe didn't qualify well, but did really well in the race too. You can see it go either way, but it's just part of this learning process.”

“Every year, it’s getting more challenging”

One can argue the fact Cadillac Racing only boast one V-Series.R season entry, compared to Ferrari’s three 499P or Porsche’s five 963, does not play into their hands when telemetry data and set-up adjustments are paramount to squeeze every bit of performance from the car.

“It’s always tricky when you just have a sample size of one. We all have the same amount of time on track at each event. The only way you can get more time is by having more cars, because you can use your time across more vehicles. From that perspective, that does make it challenging”, admits the Maryland-born racing program manager. “But it does allow us to focus. We don’t get too distracted or concerned about making a test plan for a bunch of vehicles. We can take our simulator learnings, take the best pieces of that and work with that on that one car.”

Laura Wontrop-Klauser and Cadillac Racing will, literally, double up on their efforts from 2025 onwards. British squad JOTA will become Cadillac’s factory team with the American brand fielding two V-Series.R as part of FIA WEC’s two-car mandate for Hypercar manufacturers to ensure a level playing field. “Every year, it’s getting more challenging”, adds Laura. “Everyone is showing up, bringing their A game, pushing themselves even further. It’s an extremely competitive class, which is what makes it so exciting. We are racing against the best.”