Earl Bamber from New Zealand, Alex Lynn from the United Kingdom, and Sebastien Bourdais from France represented #02 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R in the FIA World Endurance Championship Official Prologue in Doha, Qatar on 26-27 February 2024. The third and final practice session saw Alex Lynn from Cadillac Racing set the fastest lap time, indicating a strong performance for the season-opener.
Teams focused on tire management during the Prologue and free practice sessions in preparation for the 1812 km race on 2 March. Longer stint runs were conducted to assess realistic race pace. This session, which lasted for 60 minutes, was particularly important as it preceded qualifying. The Hyperpole format, typically used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, was introduced for the first time in this event. Teams started carrying out qualifying simulations during FP3.
Porsche Hypercar machinery continued to demonstrate their dominance, with Matt Campbell from Porsche Penske leading the early stages of the session. However, Alex Lynn from Cadillac Racing surpassed his time, setting the fastest lap in the Hypercar class. The cooler conditions limited the number of drivers who could achieve similar lap times, but all teams were still focused on their qualifying preparations.
In the LMGT3 class, AF Corse’s #54 Ferrari 296, driven by Davide Rigon, initially led the way in FP3. However, James Cottingham lost control of his #59 McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo and ended up in the gravel trap, causing a red flag. Among the top performers in this class was Iron Lynx’s #60 Lamborghini Huracan, driven by Franck Perera, who showed potential for the manufacturer to compete in the Hyperpole.
Alex Riberas from Heart of Racing Aston Martin AMR Vantage set the fastest lap time in the LMGT3 class, followed closely by Davide Rigon and the #55 Ferrari 296. Franck Perera’s impressive performance placed the #60 Lamborghini Huracan in fourth position, while Marco Sorensen from D’station Racing rounded off the top five.
Qualifying, consisting of four sessions and including Hyperpole sessions for each category, is scheduled to take place later in the day.