Here’s a timely disclosure, especially since Toyota Gazoo Racing again copped last weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans in the first outing for the new hypercar class, encompassing hybrid-powertrain prototypes and replacing the existing DPi category. Cadillac swiftly followed by announcing its full intentions to rumble in this new sandbox, which exists thanks to a rules alignment between the NASCAR-owned IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship in North America and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest in France, the historic Le Mans organizers. Beginning in 2023, Cadillac will take on the so-called hypercar category of global endurance racing with a fourth-generation V-series prototype that will, indeed, be in the hypercar ranks.
The very preliminary conceptual sketch from GM Design gives one indication of what the Cadillac LMDh-V.R prototype, to use its formal name, may end up looking like. Cadillac’s competition partners will be Chip Ganassi Racing and Action Express Racing. The joint IMSA-ACO hypercar formula requires entrants to run a standardized chassis and spec hybrid powertrain system combined with a manufacturer-specific internal-combustion powertrain and bodywork. In keeping with past practice, the hypercar platform will be jointly developed by GM Design and longtime IndyCar chassis supplier Dallara, which maintains a race car factory in Speedway, Indiana, just down Main Street from You Know Where. A new Cadillac engine package incorporate the hybrid system is under development. Cadillac already owns four IMSA titles and four straight overall wins in the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.
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