Cadillac is no stranger to international motorsports, even in sports prototype racing, which is often dominated by European marques outside of North America. Cadillac last raced a prototype at the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2002, when it ran a program to highlight the performance of its Northstar V-8. Now it’s ready to return to Le Mans with its latest sports prototype, the V-Series .R LMDh.
Cadillac confirmed Monday that it will field three V-Series.R LMDh cars in the top hypercar class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The cars made their debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January, where the Cadillac and Chip Ganassi fielded a third-place finish behind a pair of Acura ARX-06 LMDh cars.
The Le Mans race is the highlight of the World Endurance Championship and its top supercar class is open to LMDh and LMH cars. Cadillac enters a V-Series.R for a full FIA World Endurance Championship season. Two of these cars also compete throughout the season in the IMSA Sports Car Championship, whose own top-level GTP class is also open to LMDh and LMH cars.
Three V-Series will be driven at Le Mans. Sébastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande and Scott Dixon together; Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken in the third and final car.
The V-Series.R uses a Dallara chassis and a hybrid powertrain with a DOHC 5.5-liter V-8 for the internal combustion unit. According to LMDh rules, the combined output of the petrol engine and any electric boost is capped at 670 horsepower.
Le Mans is scheduled for the weekend of June 10th.
The World Endurance Championship isn’t the only international event Cadillac hopes to dominate. The automaker also intends to enter Formula One with a new team in partnership with Andretti Autosport’s parent company, Andretti Global. However, the timing of the proposed entry is uncertain.