Cadillac is back at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2023 after an absence of 21 years. It arrives on a wave of success in North American sportscar racing that began on its return to the prototype ranks in 2017 and is continuing into the new era with its latest V-Series.R LMDh. Comparisons with the Northstar LMP campaigns of 2000-02 somehow look fatuous.
The Northstar programme was disjointed and yielded merely a ninth-place finish at Le Mans and a handful of podiums in the American Le Mans Series. The current endeavour, by contrast, is built on stability and has been successful since the get-go.
It is already into its seventh season on the race track and has achieved a trio of drivers’ and manufacturers’ title doubles in the IMSA SportsCar Championship and four victories in the Daytona 24 Hours. Those successes were garnered with the V-R.DPi. It’s successor, the new-for-2023 Caddy LMDh, has already notched up a victory in the Sebring 12 Hours. It was Cadillac’s fifth since the introduction of its Daytona Prototype international.
Now the General Motors marque has the chance to make amends for its failures at Le Mans at the turn of the century. And it’s serious about it. Until Porsche decided to field a third official Penske-run car at the French enduro, Cadillac was set to have the biggest presence on the Hypercar grid.
