A closed-top prototype that dominated IMSA, then a 5.5-litre V8 hybrid that took Cadillac back to Le Mans after 21 years.
The Cadillac DPi-V.R raced in IMSA from 2017 to 2022 and won three championships. Its replacement, the V-Series.R, is an LMDh car built by Dallara with a 5.5-litre V8 and hybrid parts. It races in IMSA and the World Endurance Championship, and won in the WEC for the first time in 2025.
Cadillac waited 21 years to return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and when it did it finished on the podium. The marque's last appearance had been in 2002, with the Northstar LMP. In 2023 the V-Series.R came back with three cars, and the full-season #2 took third overall, a lap behind a Ferrari and a Toyota. It was the start of a second chapter that followed a first one built on a different car, the DPi-V.R, which won three IMSA championships and four 24 Hours of Daytona in a row.
What is the Cadillac DPi-V.R?
The DPi-V.R is a sports prototype that began racing in the IMSA series in North America in 2017. It is the manufacturer version of the Dallara P217 and replaced the Corvette DP. It also marked Cadillac's comeback as a full constructor, the first since the Northstar LMP that raced in the American Le Mans Series from 2000 to 2002. The car was unveiled on 30 November 2016.
It was a closed-top design, which was a change from the Corvette DP, and it added several mechanical and safety features. Panels of Zylon, an anti-intrusion material, sit inside the frame to stop mechanical parts from entering the cockpit area in a crash. It also has electrical power steering and an improved gearbox.
Cadillac waited 21 years to return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and when it did it finished on the podium.
How did the DPi-V.R dominate IMSA?
The DPi-V.R's first start was the 2017 24 Hours of Daytona, and it won it. Wayne Taylor Racing took that first victory, with a line-up of Max Angelelli, Jeff Gordon and the brothers Jordan and Ricky Taylor. Cadillac then won the next six races as well: four for Wayne Taylor Racing and one for each of the two Action Express Racing entries. The season ended with Cadillac taking the Teams', Constructors' and Drivers' championships, and all three of its entries filled the top three places in the standings, with the Taylor brothers collecting the Teams' and Drivers' titles for Wayne Taylor Racing.
The momentum carried into 2018. Mustang Sampling Racing won the season-opening Daytona race with Filipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi, and Eric Curran and Felipe Nasr took the championship for Whelen Engineering Racing, giving Cadillac back-to-back titles. Across its three entries the car claimed 11 podiums that year.
The following two seasons were less fruitful. As competition evened out, the DPi-V.R finished second in the championship in both 2019 and 2020, behind Acura and Team Penske. Cadillac kept winning at Daytona, though, taking the 2019 and 2020 races to extend its record there to four in a row. The streak ended in 2021 when Wayne Taylor Racing, which had recently left Cadillac, won with an Acura ARX-05 less than five seconds ahead of the second-placed Ally Cadillac.
Whelen Engineering Racing then took the third and last DPi-V.R title in 2021, with a late-season run of podiums and wins between Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta. In 2022, the car's final season, Chip Ganassi Racing was the best-placed Cadillac, finishing third in the standings. By the end of its career it ranked among the most successful DPi cars, and the switch to the new Le Mans Hypercar and LMDh rules brought in the V-Series.R for 2023.
| Car | Raced | Rules | Base and power | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cadillac DPi-V.R | 2017 to 2022 | IMSA DPi | Dallara P217 base, manufacturer variation | Three IMSA titles; four straight Daytona wins |
| Cadillac V-Series.R | 2023 onward | LMDh, in IMSA and the FIA WEC | Dallara-built, 5.5-litre naturally aspirated V8 plus hybrid components | Seven wins and 13 podiums as of November 2025 |
Daytona results for both Cadillac prototypes
The DPi-V.R won the 24 Hours of Daytona first time out in 2017, won it again in 2018, 2019 and 2020 and so built a record of four consecutive victories before Acura ended the run in 2021. When the V-Series.R arrived, Daytona was its debut, and Cadillac led early but ended third behind the quicker Acura. A year later the Action Express car started from pole with a record lap by Pipo Derani and finished second, 2.112 seconds from the winning Porsche.
The margins vary. In 2021 an Acura ARX-05 took the race by less than five seconds over the second-placed Ally Cadillac. In 2023 the Acura ARX-06 cars were the ones that pulled away from the V-Series.R late in the race, and in 2024 it was a Porsche 963 that held on by 2.112 seconds.
The Cadillac V-Series.R: a hybrid V8 for IMSA and Le Mans
The V-Series.R was originally named the V-LMDh. Cadillac designed it and Dallara builds it to the Le Mans Daytona h regulations. It uses a 5.5-litre naturally aspirated V8, among the biggest engines in its class, and it made its debut in the IMSA SportsCar Championship at the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona. It has contested the FIA World Endurance Championship from 2023 as well.
Cadillac announced the programme on 24 August 2021, saying it would enter IMSA's new GTP class and the WEC's Hypercar class in 2023 with an LMDh design. On the same day Dallara was confirmed as chassis supplier, with Action Express Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing named to run the cars in IMSA and at Le Mans. Renders appeared on 9 June 2022. The car pairs a 5.5-litre 90-degree V8 with standardised hybrid parts supplied by Williams Advanced Engineering, Bosch and Xtrac. Ganassi was also to run one car in the 2023 WEC.
The first shakedown was in July 2022, followed by test sessions at Sebring International Raceway and Road Atlanta that added up to nearly 19,312 km (12,000 mi). In October 2022 Laura Klauser, who managed General Motors' sportscar racing program, said both teams were working to have three cars ready for Daytona in 2023. Ganassi would enter two cars at Daytona before splitting them between a full IMSA season and a full WEC season, while Action Express would run one car all year in IMSA.
Cadillac V-Series.R in 2023: Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans
The cars came in three colours taken from the Cadillac logo: yellow, blue and red. In IMSA, Ganassi ran the yellow #01 and the blue #02 as the factory Cadillac Racing squad, while the red #31 went to Action Express, racing under the Whelen Engineering Racing name. The blue car also entered the WEC as the only full-time V-Series.R, numbered #2.
Daytona was the global debut, shared with new cars from Acura, BMW and Porsche under the new Hypercar and LMDh rules. Cadillac led for much of the early running but fell behind the Acura ARX-06 cars near the end, and the leading #01 finished third overall. The first victory came in the second round, the 2023 12 Hours of Sebring, for Action Express, despite an early collision with an LMP3 machine. That weekend the car also made its WEC debut, finishing fourth overall, ten seconds behind the #50 Ferrari 499P in third. Alex Lynn called it a fantastic start, and Cadillac was fourth again at Portimao.
An extra car, the #3, ran at the 2023 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps to prepare for Le Mans. It did not finish: Renger van der Zande crashed heavily at Raidillon, walked away unhurt, and a suspected power steering failure was found later.
At Le Mans in June, all three V-Series.Rs took part. The full-season #2 ran with few problems and finished third overall, a lap down on the #51 Ferrari and the #8 Toyota, and Richard Westbrook called the podium a great start to the programme. In IMSA the car added a win at the Motul Course de Monterey, then podiums at the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen and Petit Le Mans. The last of those mattered most. After a season-long fight with Acura and its two teams, Wayne Taylor Racing and Meyer Shank Racing, Cadillac and Action Express took every title. In the WEC the drivers were fifth with 72 points and the manufacturer fourth with 79.
2024: a pole at Daytona and a rough start in the WEC
The 2024 season started well. Pipo Derani set a track record lap to put the Action Express car on pole at Daytona, and the team led for much of the race. In the final hour it chased the Porsche 963 for the overall win but finished second, only 2.112 seconds behind the #7 car. The WEC start was poor, with a disqualification for a technical breach, a tenth place and a retirement after a high-speed crash across the first three rounds.
In IMSA, Ganassi's #01 stayed consistent enough to fight for second in the GTP standings against the #6 Porsche, finishing third, five points behind. The defending champion from Action Express ended the year fourth. In total the Cadillac teams scored eight podiums, two fastest laps, four poles and two wins, both by Ganassi, the most notable at Petit Le Mans. The WEC campaign was largely uneventful, although Cadillac took a pole at the 2024 6 Hours of Fuji.
2025: new teams, a Le Mans pole and a first WEC win
Ganassi left Cadillac before the 2025 season. Wayne Taylor Racing took over the factory IMSA programme, and Jota Sport took over the WEC. Jota's first race began promisingly, with both cars near the front, but they lost the lead after colliding with each other under a virtual safety car. Wayne Taylor Racing scored its first podium with the car at the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic.
The breakthrough came at Le Mans. Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber gave Jota a front-row lockout in Hyperpole qualifying, and it was Cadillac's first ever pole position at the race. Lynn followed with back-to-back poles at the 2025 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, where the pole-sitting #12 won and the #38 finished second, ahead of the #5 Porsche. That gave Cadillac a 1-2 finish and its first victory in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The teams behind the Cadillac prototypes
Partner teams, not Cadillac itself, have campaigned the cars. Wayne Taylor Racing won the 2017 title and the first DPi-V.R race, left Cadillac for Acura by 2021, and came back as the factory IMSA operation in 2025. Action Express Racing, running as Whelen Engineering Racing, won the 2018 and 2021 titles with the DPi-V.R and the 2023 titles with the V-Series.R. Chip Ganassi Racing was the best Cadillac in 2022, ran the factory squad and the full WEC programme in 2023, and won both of the Cadillac wins in 2024 before leaving. Jota Sport took the WEC programme for 2025 and delivered the pole at Le Mans and the victory in Sao Paulo.
As of November 2025 the V-Series.R had seven wins to its name and 13 podium finishes, and it had taken the Teams', Drivers' and Manufacturers' titles of the 2023 IMSA season, the first of them with Action Express Racing.
.jpg){kind=link}