Cadillac has confirmed the existence of its long-rumoured LMDh programme, which will see cars fielded in 2023 in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the World Endurance Championship, including at the Le Mans 24. The car, which Cadillac is calling the LMDh-V.R, is the fourth in a succession of V-branded prototype racers and will first see action at Daytona in 2023.
As with all LMDh entries, the car will be based on a next-generation LMP2 chassis, with Dallara being Cadillac’s chosen partner, as it did with the successful DPi car that won the IMSA championship twice. Cadillac will also be partnering with Chip Ganassi Racing and Action Express Racing in running the cars.
Though it’s not been made clear whether Cadillac’s rendering is representative of the end product, it’s interesting that it should be depicted without a traditional rear wing. In this, it follows in the footsteps of the sensational Peugeot 9X8 LMH, which dropped jaws with its wingless design. The difference here is that the Cadillac will be an LMDh car with a semi-stock chassis.
Cadillac is the latest to join what is becoming a veritable cohort of marques that will be vying for victory at Le Mans in 2023. While we first saw Toyota and Glickenhaus racing this year, it will also be joining Ferrari, Peugeot, Acura, Audi and Porsche in 2023, with BMW also producing a car but not confirmed for Le Mans.
To the casual observer, there’s not an awful lot of precedent for a brand like Cadillac to be joining the likes of Porsche and Audi at the top end of the endurance racing melting pot. On the contrary. The marque will be going into this off the back of a very successful DPi program, with which it secured successive IMSA Drivers’, Manufacturer’s and Team’s titles in 2017 and 2018, and the Daytona 24 four times in a row, in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. We can’t wait to see what they can do in this new era.
“We are excited to compete at the top level of international motorsport in the LMDh class beginning in 2023,” said Rory Harvey, Cadillac Global Vice President.
“We have had great success with the championship-winning Cadillac DPi-V.R and look forward to building on that record into the future with the next-generation Cadillac LMDh.”
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