Hey, Look - Cadillac Finished First In Something: The Rolex 24
Cadillac took a definite “more is more” approach for its return to prototype racing. By handing over its engineering masterpiece, the V8 DPi-V.R, to the distinguished Wayne Taylor Racing, LeMans veteran Massimiliano “Max” Angelelli, and NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon, it assured itself the one-two victory at the Rolex 24 in Daytona.
However, despite an ideal finish, it wasn’t a perfect day for the team.
Gordon accidentally rammed the Number 70 Mazda RT24-P as it clumsily exited the pits on his first time out in the Cadillac, and Ricky Taylor made some bold choices behind the wheel of the Number 10 car in final minutes of the race. However, Taylor’s aggressive moves resulted in a victory after a forced restart and extremely tight grid, thanks to the Number 93 GT3 NSX suffering a fatal automotive stroke with only twenty-minutes left in the race. Taylor made contact with Number 5 Mustang Sampling Racing driver Filipe Albuquerque, spinning him out at the end of Daytona’s banked oval as the two entered the track’s infield. It was the maneuver that ensured Cadillac’s victory.
To the chagrin of the Mustang Sampling team, no action was taken against Team Taylor for the incident. Albuquerque screamed through the grid to reduce the gap with Cadillac to a mere 0.671 seconds in the final seven minutes, but was unable to regain the lead before the race’s end.
“Well, it was a good fight, until I got hit to be honest,” Albuquerque told the cameras. “There is not much to say. I had some [GT cars] ahead of me so I could not brake so late and I closed the door but then I got spun. There is not much to say, and yeah, the officials took the decision. That’s what it is. We finished second.”
Taylor wasn’t particularly apologetic over the contact.
“I was closer than I had been. He’d been struggling in turn one,” Taylor explained. “Their car didn’t look very good there and we were really strong on the brakes.”
“I think he saw me coming. He saw me committing and — like he said — I guess he closed the door … I wanted to win terribly. We were either going to make a move and do something and win or sit there in second and wait for — wait until next year, basically. I didn’t want to do that.”
While Cadillac took the overall victory, the Ford GT team that took its class at Le Mans last year earned first place in the GTLM class, while Alegra Motorsports’ Porsche 911 GT3-R scored the GTD class win.
“I haven’t been this emotional for a win and an experience like this for a very long time,” Gordon gushed after the race. “The reason is because I know what this means to this team. Oh my gosh! This is amazing. Daytona has always been special, but this one sent me over the top. I am just blown away right now.”
The victory makes Gordon forth driver ever to win the Daytona 500 and Rolex 24, joining racing legends A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, and Jamie McMurray. It also marks Max Angelelli’s official retirement from racing.
In a pre-race interview with SportsCar365, Angelelli said, “This is where everything started, and this is where everything will end for me as a driver. I made my name here, starting in Daytona, and now I’m going to greet the people and say goodbye in Daytona. I think it’s good. I thank Wayne for pushing me to do Daytona one more time.”
[Image: Daytona International Speedway]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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I want to see all races reflect the cars we drive, which means that racers should be based on SUV/CUVs. I'd much rather watch a race between a CT5 and X5 and Q7 and GLE and Cayenne and MDX and RX and F-pace, and etc. Maybe bring back a Daytona beach race to test out the 4WD capabilities on the sand.
Actually Cadillac should be a little upset with how the win went down. The No. 5 Mustang Sampling car leading the class that had the contact with WTR's car was, was another Cadillac, so Cadillac already had their 1-2 sewn up. So no, to correct the author, this wasn't "the maneuver that ensured Cadillac’s victory". if anything, it was the maneuver that was jeopardizing that victory. The close fight between the two was putting both Cadillacs at risk. Of course, they are different teams, so team orders couldn't really be enforced and WTR really really really wanted this win. It's a lovely race car though. Looked and sounded great going around the track. Very cool the way all three Cadillacs in the race (the two Action Express cars and the WTR) all used a variation of the Cadillac livery and patterns. I just wish they had the crest and cursive "Cadillac" more prominently displayed. Ford also deserves credit for their GT-LM effort. They clearly wanted this win, entering 4 cars (twice as much as any of the competition), and impressively, all 4 cars actually managed to finish the race. With that many, you'd expect at least one DNF. Credit to Ford, Multimatic, and Chip Ganassi racing for building an apparently quite strong race car and operating it well.