Cadillac made headlines a couple of weeks ago when it announced its return to prototype racing for the first time in a decade and a half, and raised a few more eyebrows when Jeff Gordon came out of retirement to drive the new machine.
Now, with testing getting under way, one of the teams fielding the new DPi-V.R has rolled out the chassis in full battle array.
Pictured here is the No. 10 car being fielded by Wayne Taylor Racing. The team has been campaigning a Corvette DP on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship the past couple of seasons. Before that it raced a Daytona Prototype under Pontiac power, which just goes to show how long and how closely it’s been affiliated with General Motors for.
This year it’s applying its sinister black Konica Minolta livery from the Corvette DP to the new Caddy, and it looks rather stunning as a result. Whether that will help them cross the finish line any faster, though, is another matter.
Fortunately it has lined up top talent to drive the new machinery, including brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor, Max “The Ax” Angelelli, and four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Gordon. Angelelli won the 2013 Rolex Series title together with Jordan Taylor, and the 24 Hours of Daytona with father (and team principal) Wayne Taylor in 2005.
The Dallara chassis they’ll be driving is powered by a naturally aspirated version of the 6.2-liter V8 found in supercharged form in the CTS-V, here tuned to deliver 600 horsepower.
Another two examples of the same will be fielded by Action Express. Testing has already begun on closed tracks from Indianapolis and Kentucky up to New York State and down to North Carolina. The cars make their public debut this week at Daytona in Florida ahead of the Roar Before the 24 test days and the Rolex 24 next month.
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