Motor City at Le Mans: Victorious Corvette shocks, Cadillac denied
· Yahoo Sports
A General Motors V-8 was on top of the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Sunday, but it wasn’t a Cadillac.
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The script flipped Sunday before 350,000 fans as Chevrolet Corvette was the shocking winner in the production-based GT3 class in the world’s most prestigious sportscar race. Cadillac, an early favorite for its first overall win in the fastest Hypercar class, fell short after dominating qualifying and leading much of the race.
While the fates smiled on Toyota Hypercars for the Japanese marque’s sixth Le Mans win, they denied victory to the No. 38 and No. 12 Herta Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R that were the fastest cars on track for much of the race. TF Sport Corvette’s win — a first by a customer Corvette GT3 team at Le Mans (and 10th total for the Chevy supercar) — was a huge accomplishment as it competes globally against Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin and other sportscar brands for GT3 racing business.
Prior to contracting with Corvette, TF Sport had raced Aston Martins at Le Mans.
"What a historic day for General Motors and Corvette Racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans,” GM President Mark Reuss said. “Huge congratulations to drivers Nicky Catsburg, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating, and our partners TF Sport. It's an incredibly proud moment for all of us and it shows that, working as one team, GM can beat the best in the world."
The results were a complete reversal of expectations for the 94th running of the French epic.
Indeed, Toyota had all but conceded the race after qualifying Thursday where the No. 38 Cadillac of Jack Aitken/Sebastien Bourdais/Earl Bamber set a Hypercar lap record to gain pole (the car was demoted to start tenth after a pit infraction) — and the No. 12 Cadillac was third fastest.
Toyota Racing technical director David Floury said so-called LMDh cars like Cadillac, BMW, and Alpine were “in another class,” while LMH cars like Toyota and Ferrari were on the back foot. LMH entries are factory built, while LMDh racers use a third-party chassis maker (the Cadillac Hypercar, for example, is built by Italy’s Dallara).
“On pure pace and especially raceability it will be difficult,” Floury said. “We have to execute everything to perfection. If we manage to do that, maybe we stand a chance, but it depends on the circumstances.
Said BMW M Motorsport director Andreas Roos to Sportscar365: “Cadillac looks very strong, to be honest, the whole week, and not only on single lap times but also on the long runs. They have a strong car, strong pace. In the end, we hope we can keep up with them and be in a good mix and a good fight.”
Despite the qualifying setback, the No. 38 Cadillac wasted little time after the 4 p.m. (local time) start in thundering to the front — its classic, push-rod V-8 hybrid powertrain a fan favorite as it echoed down the Circuit de la Sarthe’s 200 mph straightaways.
BMW and Toyota gave chase in a three-way manufacturer fight for the lead, but as night fell and temperatures dropped, the Cadillacs asserted their authority on softer compound tires.
The No. 38 car driven by Bourdais — a 47-year-old ex-IndyCar star and Daytona 24-Hour winner seeking his first overall win at Le Mans — confidently led at the halfway point.
Then disaster struck with a failed power steering unit, ending the Caddy’s bid.
“We obviously had an amazing car,” Bourdais said afterward. “It was fighting at the front the entire time. The team in general executed the way we had to, and we gave ourselves a chance. And that’s all you can ask for at Le Mans. I’m not gonna understand it. It’s a big blow.”
The burden fell on the No. 12 car to hold off the No. 7 and No. 8 Toyota Racing Hypercar and the No. 20 BMW M Team WRT Hypercar. But with daylight came 86-degree temperatures and a switch to medium compound tires and the Caddy began to fade.
With three hours to go, it had been swallowed by the Toyotas and BMW, eventually notching a valiant fourth place, 32 seconds behind.
The LMDh cars have made huge strides since they entered the Le Mans Hypercar class in 2023 — greatly expanding the field as brands like Cadillac, Porsche, and BMW from North America’s IMSA Weathertech series entered the World Endurance Challenge (and its premier Le Mans race).
But factory-made LMH cars are still the teams to beat as Ferrari (not a contender this year) and Toyota have won all four races in the LMDh/LMH era.
In the GT3 class, meanwhile, Corvette was an afterthought leading into the race.
Corvette Racing’s dominant years from 2001-2015 under the factory team run by New Hudson’s Pratt Miller were well in the rear mirror as GM shifted to a customer GT3 program with four cars entered by two race teams.
The Corvette Z06 GT3.R entries qualified 17th, 23rd, 24th and 25th in class — the latter three the last cars in the field.
But at the drop of the green flag Saturday, the No. 33 and No. 34 ‘Vettes entered by England-based TF Sport came to life — their Ferrari-like, high-pitched V-8s a contrast to the Cadillac’s throaty rumble.
The No. 33 Corvette — with IMSA Weathertech Pratt and Miller driver Catsburg putting in killer laps — surged to the front past Aston Martin and Lexus entries and extended its lead in the final stages to as much as 90 seconds to register the landmark win.
"It’s amazing to be able to help bring home such an important win for the Corvette Racing program,” said Corvette Racing Program Manager Andreea Hidalgo. “This shows the strength of our Corvette GT3 platform and the strength of our Corvette customer teams to execute and win. Congratulations to TF Sport, Nicky, Jonny and Ben on a nearly flawless race to deliver a 10th Corvette Racing win at Le Mans."
The No. 78 Akkodis ASP Lexus finished second and the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin completed the podium in third.
The GT3 race marked a changing of the guard with Corvette’s coemptive showing which snapped the Manthey Porsche 911 streak of consecutive 2024 and 2025 class wins (and three in four years). Lexus, too, will exit next year’s Le Mans as Toyota pivots to its new, production GR-badged GT3 race car.
Cadillac V-Sereis.R’s future also looks promising after its best result in four years at Le Mans. In 2025, it showed qualifying pace by locking out the front row but was never a contender for the win. This year, it was at the pointy end of the field all weekend.
The task won’t get easier, however. Genesis (Hyundai’s luxury brand) Hypercar showed good pace this year in its debut — and next year, LMDh cars from Ford and McLaren join the packed grid.
And if Porsche (which withdrew this year) gets its financial house in order, the Team Penske-run 963 Hypercar could be in the mix as well.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at [email protected] or @HenryEPayne.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Motor City at Le Mans: Victorious Corvette shocks, Cadillac denied