The Cadillac V-LMDh successfully completed a 24-hour simulation

Cadillac has reached a crucial milestone in the development of its V-LMDh, two months before its official competition debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Published on 04/12/2022 à 09:37

Dorian Grangier

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The Cadillac V-LMDh successfully completed a 24-hour simulation

Cadillac is fine-tuning the final settings of the V-LMDh before its entry into the 24 Hours of Daytona © Richard Prince/Cadillac Photo.

Home stretch for Cadillac engineers. A little less than two months before the official competition debut of the V-LMDh, which will be entered in IMSA and WEC, the American team continues the development of its new mount. In November, a very important milestone was successfully achieved: the first 24-hour racing simulation. Excellent news ahead of the 24 Hours of Daytona, January 28-29.

19 kilometers of driving for the Cadillac V-LMDh

Cadillac carried out this full-scale test on the Sebring circuit – scene of the first race of the WEC championship next March and the 12 Hours of Sebring the same weekend – in a car prepared by Chip Ganassi Racing. “Passing this endurance test was additional motivation for our team and gave us a feeling of accomplishment, said Laura Wontrop Klauser, Cadillac Racing program manager. We still have a lot to do in a short amount of time, but we're at the point where we're fine-tuning a lot of things. » In total, the new American prototype has completed nearly 19 km of track tests since July 000.

Before that, further testing of the V-LMDh took place in October, immediately after the Petit race Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Kalvin Parker, Cadillac Racing assistant program director, said testing at the same circuit, with similar track conditions, and within 36 hours of the event's checkered flag, was very beneficial. “Having the drivers go directly from DPi to V-LMDh on the same circuit was very helpful in understanding the limitations of the new race car,” explained Parker. They've been to a few tracks, where they can compare the weight differences and the power differences. The teams' progression since the first two tests, in terms of comfort with the cars, has been spectacular, as they have pushed the systems and their understanding of the car further. »

Liveries revealed mid-January 2023

Cadillac will continue its tests over the next two months. On December 6 and 7, development will continue with a final test at the Daytona road course, during the mandatory tests requested by IMSA for all manufacturers participating in the new Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) category of the IMSA championship. The final versions of the Cadillac V-LMDh, including their liveries, will be revealed online on the Cadillac website in mid-January 2023.

The Cadillac V-LMDh in action at Sebring: 

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Dorian Grangier

A young journalist nostalgic for the motorsport of yesteryear. Raised on the exploits of Sébastien Loeb and Fernando Alonso.

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