Fernando Alonso is confident in the Cadillac DPi-V.R belonging to the Wayne Taylor Racing team following three days of testing at Daytona International Speedway.
A huge name in motorsports, Fernando Alonso spent the past weekend getting used to the Cadillac DPi-V.R at the Roar Before the Rolex 24. Both Alonso and his Toyota LMP1 teammate, Kamui Kobayashi (also a former F1 driver), have joined WTR to share the 2017 race winning Cadillac DPi with regulars Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande. Alonso was quite pleased with the progress the team made throughout the test, which twice saw the #10 WTR Cadillac top the time sheets.
“Everything went fine, quite a smooth weekend of testing,” Alonso was quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “It was the first time for me with the Cadillac and with the team. I got seat-fitted into the car, I went through all the philosophy that the Konica Minolta Cadillac team has and it was quite smooth.
“Great team, great people, and I felt quite happy in the car and with the balance of the car right from the beginning. I knew the track from last year, so I had that advantage. It was just full concentration on how the team works and how the team wanted to get through the test. We have a strong team – all the drivers have enough experience and enough speed, hopefully, to run consistently fast.”
Fernando Alonso made his first trip to the Rolex 24 last year with United Autosports, and won the Le Mans 24 Hours with Toyota in his maiden voyage to La Sarthe. Even though he’s already tasted success in endurance racing he knows the race is about more than outright speed.
“It’s a very long race and everything has to go your way,” he said. “A lot of different factors determine who wins these long races. On our side, we just have to keep the concentration high, execute the race the best we can, and help the team with our feedback and with our care for the car over the 24 hours.”
Comments
It would be interesting if Cadillac were to build a street version of their Cadillac DPi-V.R given the parts available like the transmission used in the C8 Corvette or the Blackwing twin-turbo V8.
The car looks looks like a batmobile
The car is a real race car. It is a Dallara P217.
I love the idea of bringing race cars to the street it just is not practical.
For one these cars are built for the track and would lose much in the transition to the street with added ride height and clearance of the nose etc.
The interior is tight and not really a good environment for the street.
The cost of the car and the transforming of it to the street would put the cost way out of reach of even the most affluent.
The car is set up for a Small block as it is.
In the past the old 962 Porsche’s have seen a couple transformed to street cars. They are very rare as the cost was off the charts.
Best to just do a new car from a clean sheet of paper intended for the street.
But I agree street driving a race car is something special. I have been lucky to do so a couple times. The looks you get and the noise is amazing. It would be my dream to have one of these on the street but it will remain a dream.
Why? Cadillac being in racing makes about as much sense as a Jeep LMP. The money would be better spent on better interiors in the FWD mommy mobile CUVs Cadillac actually sells.