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General Motorsports: Chevy kicks off 2024 GM assault on global racing with Daytona 500 win
Posted by Talbot Payne on February 28, 2024
It’s just February, but the distinctive, V-8 song of General Motors Co. race engines is already in the air.
The General’s thrilling win at the Daytona 500 in a NASCAR Cup Chevrolet Camaro over Ford Mustang and Toyota Camry competitors kicked off a massive 2024 assault on race tracks not only at home but abroad. Motorsport has never been more popular, and manufacturers from Detroit to Stuttgart to Tokyo have embraced racing as core to their brands. Detroit racing icons Ford and Penske also have historic investments in global motorsports for 2024.
In addition to its Daytona win — which included victories in all three NASCAR series including Xfinity and Craftsman Truck — GM won Australia’s most prestigious sportscar race, the Bathurst 500 on Feb. 18 in a Camaro ZL1, and narrowly missed taking home North America’s most coveted sportscar prize, January’s Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, in a Cadillac GTP.
“We race cars across all these series because of the ability to develop people, engineering and business people,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. vice president for performance vehicles and motorsports, in an interview about GM’s 2024 ambitions. When “we win big races like the Daytona 500, you lift the brand opinion and people put you on their shopping list more quickly. When people are aware that we’re in racing, we see significantly higher brand opinion and image ratings and they put you on the shopping list more quickly.”
Motor City brands are everywhere.
Team Penske — on a mission to win Roger “The Captain” Penske’s 20th Indy 500 and first ever Le Mans 24 Hour title this year — got its 2024 season off to successful start by conquering the Daytona 24 Hour with Porsche. Penske also competes in IndyCar (with Chevy) and Australian Supercar (with Ford).
Racing has been intertwined with Ford Motor Co. since its founding. For 2024, the Blue Oval is entering its Mustang sportscar in the highest echelons of GT racing — the global GT3 class with series in the U.S. (IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship) and overseas (World Endurance Championship).
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Ford competes in just about every form of motorsport on and off road, including Formula One (with Red Bull), NASCAR, GT3 and GT4 sports cars, off-road racing, rally racing, drag racing — even drift racing.
“There is more wealth on the planet than ever before,” said iSeeCars auto analyst Karl Brauer, citing motorsports’ place in a brand-focused entertainment world that runs from the Super Bowl to Disney. “There is undeniable evidence that those demographics align with motorsports.”
GM doesn’t compete in the breadth of series that Ford does, but it involves more brands including Cadillac along with its Chevy sportscars and Silverado and Colorado trucks lines (Best of the Desert off-road racing).
Under the Cadillac badge, the General has its sights set on motorsports’ pinnacle, Formula One, with Andretti Racing as a full powertrain manufacturer like Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes. That goal suffered a setback this year due to F1 politics, but insiders say Andretti Cadillac is not taking its foot off the gas pedal with an eye on entering the series in 2026.
“The Formula One piece is interesting because there’s been a lot of growth in that series and a lot of global reach as we introduce different (Cadillac) models around the world,” said Campbell.
Cadillac also competes alongside Chevrolet in international sports car racing, its earth-shaking, V-series V-8 prototypes a consistent championship threat. This year, it has eyes on the big prize: the 24 Hours of Le Mans with three, hybrid-powered racers that align with Caddy’s electrification plans.
“The V-series really has its roots in racing platforms that go back 20 years,” said Campbell. “The Cadillac (prototype) has had tremendous success, and that set the table for what is now the hybrid platform.”
Before Mustang entered GT3 racing, Corvette was a staple on the international GT racing circuit. Like Ford, GM sees GT3 racing rues as an opportunity to expand its motorsports footprint.
“(Hudson-based) Pratt Miller is still running our factory-supported car but it’s a little bit different than where we were,” said Campbell. “We created a GT3 Corvette based off the Z06 and we now have customers fielding cars, so it’s more of a customer-oriented model.”
That means income coming in rather than just marketing expenditures flowing out. Privateer AWA Racing fielded two cars at the Rolex 24 Daytona, and TF Sport will enter two Corvette GT3 racers abroad in WEC. More customer teams are entering other series like DXDT Racing in SRO.
“The GT3 program … is exciting and really just the beginning. It’s a new model of how we’re racing, but the passion behind the program is still right there,” said Campbell.
Americans’ passion for NASCAR has never been in doubt, and GM followed up its Daytona win with a victory in Atlanta last weekend. GM races its Camaro badge in NASCAR even as the street version ended production in Lansing late last year.
“Our dealers are still selling Camaros, including a couple of special editions,” said Campbell. “What happens beyond that? Our Chevy leadership has said . . . that’s not the last chapter for Camaro. There’s more to come on that, but for now we’re selling them and racing them.”
Auto analyst Brauer said that racing Camaros helps bridge the badge to its next model line — perhaps an electric version. “You don’t just give up on a badge that is that legendary,” he said.
The might of GM’s racing efforts will be on full display in Michigan this summer when the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, which returned to downtown after years on Belle Isle, features Chevy-powered IndyCars and Cadillac GTPs and Corvette GT3s in the IMSA series. A couple of months later, NASCAR Camaros will descend on Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.
“The Detroit GP this year is gonna be awesome with Cadillac, Corvette and the Indy cars out there,” said Campbell. “The economic impact to the area was almost double what it was on Belle Isle.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.