Another clue has emerged in the continuing saga of General Motors’ mysterious mid-engine car.

Cadillac has confirmed that three Cadillac Daytona Prototype race cars will compete in the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Prototype class, beginning with the 55th Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 28-29, 2017. The new car will be badged as the Cadillac DPi-V.R and is the first prototype race car from the Wreath and Crest division in 14 years.

Hmmmm, interesting timing.

“It is not possible to overstate how thrilled all of us at IMSA are to officially welcome Cadillac, one of the world’s most respected premium automotive brands, back to Prototype racing in the WeatherTech Championship,” said IMSA President Scott Atherton. “This is exactly the type of program we had in mind when we announced the Daytona Prototype international concept last year.”

As we open a new era of Prototype competition in 2017, we now have three benchmark examples of manufacturers using this platform to showcase their impressive and unique technology at the highest level. We cannot wait to get the new era underway in just a few short weeks at Daytona.”

The next quote is telling as well. “Cadillac’s V-Performance production models — the ATS-V and CTS-V — are transforming our brand’s product substance, earning a place among the world’s elite high performance marques,” Cadillac Chief de Nysschen said. “The Cadillac DPi-V.R further strengthens our V-Performance portfolio, placing Cadillac into the highest series of sports car racing in North America.”

Adding a mid-engine supercar to compliment the well regarded CTS-V and ATS-V would propel Cadillac into the limelight as one of the pre-eminant performance car makers on the planet.  A far cry from D’Elegance Broughams, wire wheel covers and carriage roofs indeed. 

No one knows what motor will power the secret mid-engine production car, but the new race car will be powered an all motor, LT 6.2-liter Cadillac V-8 engine, found in the current Cadillac CTS-V and Cadillac Escalade. The chassis for the Cadillac DPi-V.R was designed in cooperation with Dallara with styling cues lifted from Cadillac’s current line of V-Performance high-performance production models, specifically the Cadillac CTS-V.

“The race car was an exciting new canvas for the Cadillac design and sculpting team,” said Andrew Smith, Global Cadillac Design executive director. “The studio embraced the opportunity to interpret the Cadillac form language, line work and graphic signature for this premier prototype racing application.  Every detail of the final design was selected to support the car’s on-track performance and unmistakable Cadillac presence.”

Photo courtesy Car and Driver

Looks like Jeff Gordon will be piloting the car as well. The 45-year-old got his first laps in the new Caddy racer, which was officially unveiled on Wednesday, during a 24-hour endurance test at Charlotte Motor Speedway last month, and is expected to be in attendance at the IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona on December 13-14.

If we “zoom out the lens,” there are some concurrent developments that make the debut of this Caddy race car telling.

Cadillac bossman de Nysschen has said the next range topping Cadillac won’t be a sedan and a $150k supercar would probably be easier to sell as a Cadillac anyway. With the cost associated with fielding a race car, it makes sense to have something in the showroom that can leverage the buzz of a winning race car.

Chevrolet just closed out 2016 with record Corvette sales of over 40k units, so you can be sure changing the Corvette’s 64 year old blueprint will be tough sell to GM brass.

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