Sebastien Bourdais is returning to the World Endurance Championship for the final round of the season at the 8 Hours of Bahrain.
The French driver will drive the No. 2 car alongside Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber as they will be looking to score their first podium of the season.
Bourdais competed in the first round of the championship at the Qatar 1812km and had a good pace, although the car was disqualified for a technical breach.
He also raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the No. 3 car but failed to finish alongside Scott Dixon and Renger Van Der Zande.
Cadillac have had a mixed season in the World Endurance Championship overall, too, dealing with the extra challenge of running a single car at most races.
They scored a best finish of fourth place at Lone Star Le Mans, but the American manufacturer are yet to achieve a podium.
Bourdais explained to the official WEC website that he is anticipating a challenging event at the 8 Hours of Bahrain due to some unique characteristics of the Bahrain International Circuit.
Sebastien Bourdais feels the Bahrain International Circuit’s ‘extremely abrasive’ surface will be challenging
The Bahrain International Circuit is a track with distinct characteristics among the rest of the WEC calendar with an abrasive surface.
This will make the race very difficult, particularly on tyres as it will be very easy to degrade the Michelin rubber in the Hypercar class.
Traction control will help with this slightly but it will be mainly down to the driver to manage the tyres over a stint.
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Bourdais has driven the circuit before in Formula 1 and LMP2 but he is wary of the difficult surface and the importance of managing tyres.
He said: “Unfortunately, it’s been a bit of a tough season in terms of results – there has always been something getting in the way – but performance-wise, it seems like the car is in a really good window.
“Bahrain is a really big challenge. It’s an extremely abrasive racetrack. Tyre degradation is very high and using the tyre the right way to make it function without making it slide is critical.
“You have to do it with set-up, dampers, traction control and you name it, but we’ll try to find some recipes that work and hopefully we’ll wind up in a good spot.”
Cadillac have had some good performances in WEC this season
The American manufacturer have had a mixed season that started badly, with the disqualification in Qatar at the season-opener.
Cadillac broke into the top 10 next time out at the 6 Hours of Imola, while they retired at Spa-Francorchamps in a mixed start to the year.
They are going up against teams with much more experience such as Toyota and Ferrari who have shared the last seven wins at Le Mans.
Heading into 2025, the American manufacturer must improve on their consistency to build towards a championship challenge. Cadillac will also welcome Jota to their WEC stable, with the British team joining them after a stint with Porsche as Cadillac expand to a two-car entry.