Why Cadillac can make amends for its previous Le Mans failures

By:

Gary Watkins

Apr 29, 2023, 7:59 AM

The American marque has taken a long and winding road to return to Le Mans with its new LMDh racer. But its recent success in domestic endurance racing suggests means that it should not be judged by its unfulfilled promise in France two decades ago

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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.

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Gary Watkins

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Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.