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Historic Cadillac win: Brazil victory brand’s first in international Hypercar race
Posted by Talbot Payne on July 14, 2025
A month ago, Cadillac’s V-Series.R Hypercar program made a statement by sweeping the front row at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world’s premier sportscar race. Last weekend, it followed up that historic feat by scoring its first win in international, FIA World Endurance Championship sportscar racing, taking a dominant 1-2 win at the Rolex Six Hours of São Paulo in Brazil.
Cadillac’s WEC effort is part of an international expansion into motorsport, including Formula One, as it seeks to establish itself as a global performance brand alongside makes like Mercedes, BMW and Aston Martin.
Cadillac Racing’s prototype cars have won 32 races and four manufacturer’s championships in North America’s IMSA Weathertech Sportscar series since 2017. The program expanded to the WEC circuit in 2023. Two Hertz-sponsored Caddy Hypercars managed by England-based Team JOTA were first across the line on Saturday at Brazil’s famed Interlagos circuit (where F1 also competes in November). Two Porsche 963 Hypercars entered by Bloomfield Hills-based Team Penske finished 3-4.
The #12 Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar took pole and won the brand’s first WEC race at the 2025 Rolex Six Hours of Brazil. Nick Dungan
Corvette Racing (which has been in international motorsports since 2000) continued its successful season in the production-based, LMGT3 class with the TF Sport team’s Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R finishing second in class at Sāo Paulo.
“Congratulations to the Cadillac Racing team and the No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R on their victory in the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo,” said Vice President of Global Cadillac John Roth. “Every member of the team can be very proud of their efforts on preparing the race car for success, from both a technology and durability standpoint.”
Tech and durability are key elements of General Motors Co.’s investment in racing. The automaker says that motorsports is important — not only for enhanced brand awareness — but as R&D for production vehicles. The V-Series.R Hypercars are hybrid V-8 engines, while the brand sells a mix of gas/electric production cars in the United States and all-electric in Europe.
Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercars scored a dominant 1-2 win at the FIA World Endurance Championship in São Paulo, Brazil – the brand’s first in the international WEC class. Brazil racing legend Ayton Senna is on the background poster. Nick Dungan
“What racing does for Cadillac as a brand is — not only do we go out to compete with global luxury brands that we compete with in the retail space — we also get accelerated learnings,” Roth told The Detroit News at Le Mans in June. “What’s the aerodynamics like in the vehicle? What is the braking feel like? What’s the overall performance of the vehicle? Our engineers that are here with us learn at an accelerated pace.”
As evidenced by the Le Mans pole, the Cadillacs have shown good pace in the brand’s third WEC season. The Brazil win stalled a dominant year to date by Ferrari, which won the first four (of eight) races, including first place at Le Mans. The São Paulo 1-2 result vaulted Cadillac to second in the championship behind Ferrari and ahead of Porsche, Toyota, BMW, Alpine, Peugeot and Aston Martin.
The #12 and #38 Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar teams celebrate their 1-2 win on the podium in Brazil. Cadillac
“This kind of consistency only comes from world-class engineering and well-executed strategies,” said Keely Bosn, Cadillac Racing program manager, after the race. “It wasn’t just a win on the track — it was a win in the garage, in the data room, and in every detail of our race prep this season.”
Prior to Sunday’s result, Cadillac Racing’s best result in the Hypercar class (the fastest sportscar class in the world) was third at Le Mans in 2023.
As at Le Mans this year, Cadillac Team JOTA qualified on pole with Le Mans pole-sitter Alex Lynn once again at the wheel. Not only did Cadillac dominate the 18-Hypercar field over the six-hour race, it also set a race fast lap. The twin Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA entries led a combined 165 of 242 laps.
The second-place #38 Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar sweeps past the second-place Chevy Corvette Z06 LMGT3 racer at the Rolex Six Hours of São Paulo. Nick Dungan
“Honestly, this is now year number three for me racing this car and year number four of driving it. And, personally, it’s a huge sense of satisfaction,” said English driver Lynn, who has been with Cadillac’s WEC effort since its 2022 inception. “It’s been a huge journey with Cadillac and to finally win a race of the WEC Championship is special. It’s been a lot of hours driving the car and a lot of hours working on it, and it means everything.”
The significance of motorsports to Cadillac’s brand reboot was on display in Paris last month during the WEC Le Mans race. A Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar was on display in Cadillac’s showroom in the heart of Paris’s downtown fashion district. The showroom is one of four the GM luxury brand recently opened in Europe.
The Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar is a hybrid V-8 racer competing in the international WEC series as well as in North America’s IMSA Weathertech series. Cadillac
While customers ogled the race car next to Cadillac’s Lyriq electric vehicle, they could watch racing on the store’s video screens.
“Cadillac has been on a long journey over the last 10 years to really reestablish itself as the standard of the world, and so everything we do is about raising the bar, raising our engineering excellence, raising what is a luxury presentation for a consumer,” Roth said. “It’s not just a U.S.-orientated mindset. It is a global mindset.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.