Cadillac Racing says it would “definitely,” want to take its new LMP2 spec Cadillac DPi-V.R to the 24 Hours of Le Mans if it were allowed to do so.
Speaking to Sportscar365, General Motors’ director of racing and motorsports, Mark Kent, said GM would happily run the DPi-V.R at Le Mans if the ACO governing body modified the rules to allow it to do so.
“We would love to be able to take our Cadillac DPi to Le Mans, in its current state, only if we could use the Cadillac body and Cadillac engine,” Kent said. “Anything other than that, we really don’t have any interest because we don’t know what we’d get out of it.”
“If they were to change the rules to allow that happen, we’d definitely have interest.”
The ACO went back on its original plans to allow IMSA’s DPi prototypes to compete in the LMP2 class at Le Mans and ruled out creating a separate prototype class for the IMSA cars. Instead, the governing body suggested the cars may be eligible for its non-hybrid LMP1 class with certain modifications. A large power increase would likely be involved – which is not a tall order for the heavily restricted 6.2-liter V8 in the DPi-V.R.
Wayne Taylor Racing, the outfit that took overall wins in the DPi-V.R at Daytona and Sebring this year, is interested in a Le Mans return whether it’s in LMP1 or LMP2. Team owner Wayne Taylor is in support of taking his DPi-V.R to France so long as GM and Cadillac are on board and knowing GM’s affinity for motorsport and Le Mans, it doesn’t seem out of sight.
“If GM and Cadillac want to go, I would love it,”  Taylor  said. “That car at Le Mans would be so great. I would be very supportive of that.”
Comments
would GM and cadillac please stop half assing every thing and make the car LMP1 or nothing.
and show factory support on the livery and not some camera company or whatever. GM is cheap
as hell. They went full on in the corvette team because it probably cost them 2 cents to do.
Those prototypes as they look right now look like some privateer team just happy to racing with
GM’s blessing.
you don’t see audi or porshe sponsoring a beer company on their cars as a major sponsor.
you know it’s an audi or porshe because it’s displayed prominently on the car.
At first I saw the caddies I thought they were some cheap private team testing for GM.
i can’t believe they are so happy to go to LMP2. GT1 was easy, multible LeMans wins.
Oh I know, easy wins right. Don’t want to work
hard. LMP1 is damn hard. look at peugeot,
should have more than 1 lemans win.
Apparantly … the 2017 Cadillac DPi does not “fit” into any established AGO category.
So … specifically … what would GM/Cadillac have to do to their DPi in order to “qualify” for a Lemans invite?
yeah, but don’t you think cadillac knows the rules for lmp1.
just make a world wide lmp1 car and race it in the world
endurance championship (WEC). Who cares about dpi?!
make it a hybrid electric whatever like porsche and jump in
the deep end.
remember when caddie pulled the bottom out from wayne
taylor the last time caddie went lmp1 racing and gave up
when they saw it wasn’t going to be easy. wayne must love
punishment
I second Kelly Adams’ request and ask:
What modifications would be required to the Cadillac DPi-V.R to run
• in the LMP2 class
• in the LMP1 class
?
Which are the concrete ACO regulations in question?
OK, I have found the fundamental problem with the LMP2 class: the ACO regulations require to use one of four permitted chassis and the use of the one and only permitted engine, supplied by a company called Gibson. This Cadaillac DPi-V.R complies with the first condition by using the Dallara P217 chassis, but — as said in the article — does not use the Gibson engine but their own GM engine.
I still don’t know which modifications would be required for racing in the LMP1 class.
I found the info regarding LMP2 in the article “2017 24 Hours of Le Mans” on the site en.wikipedia.org and some more in the article on “Daytona Prototype” on the same site.
well, yes the ACO is not w/o fault with these rudimentary guidelines I
agree aren’t clear. I thought for sure Porshe/toyota/audi etc. ran there
own engines.
The ACO hast strict rules and not “rudimentary guidelines”.
The P1 class is for automobile manufacturers which build their own cars with their own chassis and their own drive train, within certain limits.
The P2 class is for private racing teams, and the cars are in a certain way standardized. The have to use one out of four certified chassis and the one and only engine provided by this Gibson company.
But cadillac can not be dabbling in LMP2.
They tell us all the time in their commercials that they
sell world class cars. OK, do the right thing when it comes
to racing them. Their CTS-VR’s are kicking ass in the Pirelli
World Challenge racing against the worlds other luxury
brands, so what’s the problem.
Cmon GM, get back in LeMans and compete against
The best as the best Lmp1 car! You have a great car
and a great proven winning team. Don’t let this opportunity go by… What about American Pride?
I mean am I missing something.
wouldn’t you want to race your own company
made engine? just saying!
what about all this hybrid technology they are
using. Where does it all lead if you’re using a
GIBSON engine, laughable! Thats ok cadillac
continue to win 2nd rate american championships.
At least you are using your own engine, I guess?!