Danielle Shepherd is a race-winning engineer on the number 2 Cadillac DPi-V.R prototype car for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship. At the 2022 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach we got to spend some time with Danielle in the race transporter where she gave us her background and she was also kind enough to answer a bunch of RaceSchool.com listener questions from a data analytics grad student! She breaks down those answers in a very simple manner and provides insight into how she helps her team and drivers focus on maximizing performance to get to Victory Lane. She did that at the second race of the season at the 12hrs of Sebring.
Enjoy!
By Larry Mason Copyright © 2022 Larry Mason
Danielle Shepherd went from being the simulation engineer for Alex Palou’s IndyCar championship in 2021 to becoming the race engineer for the number 2 Cadillac IMSA DPi team for Ganassi in 2022. She’s gone from success to success – she engineered the team to an overall victory at the 12hrs of Sebring this year!
As sleek and smooth as the bodywork is on the Chip Ganassi Cadillac DPi-V.R, Shepherd needs to understand that race car inside and out and top to bottom to help tune the car to her drivers’ preferences. Photo by Larry Mason
Danielle Shepherd is strictly business and serious about her craft keeping up with multiple streams of data from the computer bank displays in front of her. These are just some of the challenges of a race weekend whether that’s for a sprint race like Long Beach or the grueling endurance rounds such as the Rolex 24hrs of Daytona.
Shepherd shares a lighter moment during a race weekend with Sebastien Bourdais, who drives the other Ganassi Cadillac in the two-car stable.
Interview Copyright © by Larry Mason
Photos courtesy of and Copyright © Chip Ganassi Racing