Manoli Katakis 
2023 marks 100 years of the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. For motorsports fans everywhere, Le Mans is a can’t-miss event, and a true pilgrimage to attend. And for the first time in 20 years, Cadillac is racing there. Introducing the brand spankin’ new race car that conforms to both IMSA and WEC regulations. Testing begins almost immediately, and the car will make its racing debut in January at the 2023 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.
Globally, the Cadillac Project GTP Hypercar race car will be fielded in the IMSA GTP class by the Chip Ganassi Racing and Action Express Racing teams, while Ganassi will also field a car in the FIA WEC Hypercar class.
The integration of Cadillac Design, Cadillac Racing and Dallara started at the very beginning of the program, allowing the race car to a look that’s truly unmistakable, with stealth-fighter angles, buttresses, and all sorts of beautiful details that pay both homage to Cadillac’s production cars, as well as its proud motorsports history.
Powering this exceptionally beautiful race car is something that GM does best: a V8 engine. But not just any V8. Compared to the Small Block-based blocks that power the outgoing, championship-winning DPi Cadillacs, this engine is a new dual-overhead-cam design, displacing 5.5-liters. The same can be said for the Corvette Racing C8.R, but Cadillac won’t divulge too much into whether or not the engines are essentially the same. Moreover, this racecar is a hybrid – a first for Cadillac Racing. This engineering transfer is likely to trickle into a future production car of some kind, the C8 Corvette Zora for one, but none of that is official as of now.
By competing in the WEC’s top class, the Cadillac Project GTP Hypercar seeks to take the overall win at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, where General Motors will represent its performance brands like it never has before. Because along with the new Cadillac Hypercar, Corvette Racing is expected to return with the C8.R, and Hendrick Motorsports is fielding a freakin’ Chevrolet Camaro NASCAR to raise American hell on unsuspecting French racing enthusiasts. Meanwhile, the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans waves the green flag this Saturday.
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