Cadillac announced it will return to racing in 2011 with a race-prepared
version of its CTS-V Coupe competing in the Sports Car Club of America World
Challenge, North America's top production-based racecar series.
The move
returns Cadillac to a series where it competed from 2004 to 2007. Competing in
the GT Class with the CTS-V Sport Sedan, Cadillac captured the Manufacturer's
Championship in 2005 and 2007 and the Driver's Championship in 2005.
Cadillac will field two
teams in the upcoming SCCA World Challenge GT Class with a racecar based on the
CTS-V Coupe. The CTS-V line, which also includes the CTS-V Sedan and CTS-V
Wagon, was recently named to Car and Driver magazine's 10 Best list for 2011.
"Returning to racing in the SCCA World Challenge is a great way to
demonstrate the performance and capability of the CTS-V Coupe," said Don Butler,
vice president for Cadillac marketing. "The racecars in this series are
production based, which allows us to validate our performance against the best
of our competitors on the track, and not just the showroom."
Cadillac is
working with Pratt & Miller, a New Hudson, Mich., engineering firm which
specializes in motorsports, to develop the CTS-V Coupe racecar. While some of
the production CTS-V components will be modified due to the unique demands of
racing or to meet the SCCA series' technical rules, every effort is taken to
maintain as much production content as possible.
"The SCCA World
Challenge lends itself well to a natural transfer of knowledge," said Jim
Campbell, GM vice president for Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. "The
series will become a key test-bed for Cadillac. We anticipate using what we
learn on the racetrack to ensure the V-Series stays on the cutting-edge of
performance."
The first event in the SCCA World Challenge is March 25-27
in St. Petersburg, Fla. Johnny O'Connell, a three-time GT1 champion in the
America Le Mans Series, and Andy Pilgrim, who won the 2005 SCCA World Challenge
GT class in a Cadillac, will be behind the wheel of the CTS-V racecars.
Introduced for the 2003 model year, the CTS-V has quickly earned a reputation
among luxury sports car buyers. For the 2011 model year, Cadillac added the
CTS-V Coupe and the CTS-V Sport Wagon to the CTS-V Sport Sedan, creating an
impressive family of performance vehicles. The CTS-Vs feature Brembo brakes, a
supercharged 6.2L V8 delivering 556 horsepower and a Magnetic Ride Control
suspension system that can read and react to the road 1,000 times a second.
SCCA World Challenge
Started in 1944, the SCCA organizes and
supports racing at all levels from amateur to professional. The World Challenge
series is designed to provide teams, manufacturers and aftermarket suppliers a
competitive production-based race series in which to prove their products. The
races follow a 50-minute maximum time limit, with the number of laps and total
distance determined by track configuration, lap times and race conditions.