{"id":34637,"date":"2025-06-14T09:12:29","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T13:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=34637"},"modified":"2025-06-18T11:17:58","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T15:17:58","slug":"be-iconic-why-detroit-performance-brands-have-descended-on-le-mans-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/be-iconic-why-detroit-performance-brands-have-descended-on-le-mans-this-weekend","title":{"rendered":"Be iconic: Why Detroit performance brands have descended on Le Mans this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Le Mans, France<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 If the Indy 500 is a showcase for driver glory, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the premier race for manufacturer prowess. Win Indy, and its resulting fame will change a driver\u2019s life forever. Win Le Mans, and an auto brand becomes legend.<\/p>\n

Ferrari, Porsche, Audi and Ford have become international household performance names with their dominance of this 24-hour epic. No wonder, then, that the motorsports world was atwitter Thursday when General Motors Co.’s Cadillac swept the front row to claim pole position.<\/p>\n

When the green flag drops at 4 p.m. Saturday local time (10 a.m. in Detroit), two Cadillacs \u2014 their Team JOTA liveries glistening in the French afternoon sun \u2014 will lead a packed international field of Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin to create an image seen around the globe.<\/p>\n

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The #12 Cadillac V-Series.R of Alex Lynn led a front-row lockout of qualifying alongside the sister #38 car at Le Mans on Thursday, June 12, 2025. Michele Scudiero, Cadillac<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cCadillac locking out the front row is an important thing,\u201d said English driving ace Alex Lynn after putting his Cadillac V-Series.R on pole. \u201cOnly the most iconic brands have done that. Cadillac is the first American brand to take the pole since the legendary Ford GT40. We are in the shadows of greats. If we can win this race on Sunday we can cement our car as one of the icons.\u201d<\/p>\n

No wonder multiple Detroit brands are competing this year against the world\u2019s best racing manufacturers in rural France before over 330,00 spectators and another 118 million watching around the world. Motorsports has been a key marketing, engineering and sales tool, but the advent of social media and the popular \u201cDrive to Survive\u201d Netflix series covering Formula One has taken motorsports to a new level by broadening its demographic appeal to a younger, gender-diverse audience that auto brands crave.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Drive to Survive\u2019 changed everything. It’s making racing globally cool again, and the trickle-down effect we see from F1 is really big,\u201d said Lynn. \u201cWe are riding that wave, and showcasing to young people that Cadillac is cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same electronics revolution that has transformed Hypercars into hybrid rocketships has also exposed youth to racing via simulators and online games where they can act out their fantasy to be, well, Alex Lynn.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe consumer who is following racing these days is much younger,\u201d said Vice President for Global Cadillac John Roth in an interview here. \u201cThey are EV-oriented, they are technologically curious and we put a lot of technology into our vehicles like the Lyriq-V that is the quickest Cadillac we\u2019ve ever built in the marketplace. So there’s a lot of correlation between the V-Series race car and V-Series production car \u2014 customers may not attend a race, (but) it\u2019s a great platform to elevate the brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

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General Motors Co.’s Cadillac chief, John Roth, is using Europe’s most famous sportscar race to boost the Detroit brand’s entry into the rarified European luxury market \u2014 and Cadillac claiming the front row on the starting grid of 2025’s 24 Hours of Le Mans is a big step in the right direction. Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Le Mans also attracts the world\u2019s best drivers, like Lynn, who is not just a fast pilot, but a global brand ambassador in an industry that craves brand awareness and looks for ways to burnish it.<\/p>\n

Dearborn-based Ford Motor Co. has been a global icon for some time. In the 1960s, the Ford GT40 dominated Le Mans for four years \u2014 two of them as a factory-backed team, two entered by a private team.<\/p>\n

That put the Blue Oval badge on par with Ferrari (which it tried to buy at the time) and Porsche as legends of motorsport. Ford also partnered with England\u2019s Cosworth to produce one of the Formula One series\u2019 premier engines, the Ford-Cosworth, in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Ford’s decision to return to Le Mans prototype racing in 2027 (it announced its chassis partner, Italy\u2019s Oreca, at Le Mans Friday) and Formula One in 2026 (again as an engine partner, this time with Red Bull) reaffirms that it belongs with the world\u2019s best.<\/p>\n

\u201cFord has a special history here. It\u2019s the moment that Ford went global in 1966,\u201d Ford CEO Jim Farley said in an interview here. \u201cThis is a big commitment to us. There is no better advertisement for the capability of the company than winning a Le Mans, or it just says your company knows what they’re doing in the car business.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans:\u201d We want to sell race cars to customers worldwide.\u201d A certified race-car driver, Farley drove in the new Mustang challenge on the historic 8.5-mile course. Chris DuMond, Special To The Detroit News<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For both Ford and General Motors, the international World Endurance Championship and North American IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series have provided a proper platform to justify the enormous dollar investment that motor racing requires. By agreeing to the same set of sports car rules across continents (and across races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 24 Hours of Daytona in Florida), IMSA\/EC has opened a global stage for GM and Ford to sell GT race cars as rivals Porsche and Ferrari have done.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to sell race cars to customers worldwide. I have made my career making bad decisions in motorsports,\u201d said a smiling Farley as he overlooked the Ford Chicane on the Le Mans course. \u201cAnd most of it was a marketing program to get someone interested in a brand. We needed to make motorsports a sustainable part of the company.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ford introduced the Mustang GT3 race car for the first time at Le Mans last year \u2014 just as it entered the same car in IMSA\u2019s North American series. It made a big splash, placing third and fourth, and the factory team \u2014 run by Proton Racing \u2014 is back this year. Just like its Ford F-150 Raptor off-road entries in the Baja 1000 and King of the Hammers, the Mustangs are here to sell to customers.<\/p>\n

\"Le<\/p>\n

Le Mans, France – Alex Lynn (right) qualified the #12 Cadillac V-Series.R on pole. His teammates Will Stevens (left) and Norman Nato will co-pilot with him June 14-15 to try and win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Photo: Michele Scudiero \/ Drew Gibson Photography. Michele Scudiero, Cadillac<\/em><\/p>\n
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\u201cRacing is an indigenous sport for our industry \u2014 we don\u2019t make shampoo,\u201d said Farley. \u201cThere are a few events like Le Mans that really put you on the map. We want to sell more (F-150) Raptors and Tremors and Broncos, so we race the King of the Hammers, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chevy pioneered the GT3 effort back in 2000 with its Corvette entries, racking up nine Le Mans class wins over the last 25 years. It has now pivoted to a customer-based race model, and its three cars here this weekend are entered by customer teams TF Sport and AWA Racing.<\/p>\n

As the racing and production programs became more integrated over that time, Chevrolet attracted more engineering talent. Roth points to Tony Roma, who has worked on both the Corvette and Cadillac production performance programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cTony is a race car driver and a great example of translating that feel of what it is like to be behind the wheel of a high-performance Cadillac,\u201d said Roth. Then he \u201ctranslates that back to the vehicles that will sell to a new generation of buyers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The #51 Ferrari 499P Hypercar exits \u201cIndianapolis\u201d during Hyperpole qualifying and takes P3 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in Le Mans, France on June 11, 2025. Ferrari has three entries in the Hypercar class of the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans. Chris DuMond, Special To The Detroit News<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

That integration has carried over to Cadillac\u2019s European expansion. Keely Busn is program manager for the Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar and regularly advises, for example, Caddy\u2019s Paris showroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe introduced the livery for our Team JOTA race car in the Paris showroom, for example,\u201d she said in Cadillac\u2019s Le Mans pit. \u201cWe coordinated the motorsports display in the showroom that drives home the brand\u2019s performance and precision. If you want to translate what it means to be at the pinnacle of motorsports, it’s good to have a dealership in Paris.\u201d<\/p>\n

The V-Series.R that took pole here has a distinctly American V-8 sound. But Roth said racing informs more than just powertrains.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/figure>\n
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The #12 Cadillac V<\/em>\u2011Series.R Hypercar enters <\/em>\u201cIndianapolis<\/em>\u201d during Hyperpole qualifying and takes P1 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in Le Mans, France on June 11, 2025. Cadillac has four entries in the Hypercar class of the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans. Chris DuMond, Special To The Detroit News<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cNot only do we go out every day to compete with global luxury brands that we compete with in the retail space, we also get accelerated learnings on how vehicles perform. What’s the aero like? What\u2019s the brake feel like?\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cThat translates back to our EV vehicles that we sell in our retail environment. Aero gives an EV better range. Tires in an EV give better range. Racing is a great platform (that brings) learning back to what consumers enjoy in a vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Le Mans, France\u00a0\u2014 If the Indy 500 is a showcase for driver glory, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the premier race for manufacturer prowess. Win Indy, and its resulting fame will change a driver\u2019s life forever. Win Le Mans, and an auto brand becomes legend. Ferrari, Porsche, Audi and Ford have become international […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34637"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34637"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34647,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34637\/revisions\/34647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}