Chip Ganassi Racing’s days as Cadillac’s Hypercar and GTP factory team are numbered, with a major shakeup of the GM brand’s top-class sportscar programmes being planned for 2025.
Next year, the third for the V-Series.R in the FIA WEC and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, will see significant changes to the shape of the brand’s factory programmes in both championships. This will likely coincide with a set of significant upgrades to the car, which are currently being worked on behind the scenes.
Multiple paddock sources in both series in recent months revealed to DSC that the Ganassi contract with Cadillac expires at the end of the current season and was unlikely to be renewed, with potential suitors already coming forward and bidding to take its space in the programme.
In IMSA, the belief has been for a while that Action Express will become a two-car team and the sole representative of Cadillac in the championship. This follows the team’s standout performance in 2023, winning the GTP class titles and notably, the Sebring 12 Hours overall.
Cadillac’s programme would therefore take a similar path to Acura’s, which also started as a two-car effort across two factory-backed teams and has morphed into a single-team solution.
Over in the FIA WEC, the situation is far more complex. Currently, Ganassi runs the single-car full-season programme out of a new base in Stuttgart, Germany. However, with the relationship between Ganassi and Cadillac ‘fractured’, a new team is set to represent the brand in the WEC for what DSC believes will be a boosted two-car Hypercar effort.
Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull has confirmed his team’s departure from Cadillac’s prototype programme exclusively to RACER.com’s Marshall Pruett:
“Chip Ganassi Racing has a fantastic history with General Motors. Considering everything that we’ve done with them, there has been a lot of partnership definition to what we’ve accomplished. NASCAR, Extreme E, IndyCar, DPi and LMDh have all been successful programs and we’ve shared equally in learning from that success to get better together. We would never close the book on General Motors in terms of the future. We just know that this chapter is ending.
“Chip has worked really hard himself to make sure we are always aligned with quality manufacturers, and it has made a large difference in the success that we’ve had,” Hull added. “We’re looking forward to sharing that again with other manufacturers in any category of motor racing going forward to win. The foundation we’ve established in Indianapolis has allowed us to take on projects like this one where we can service the racing community the right way.
“Our business is built on partnership and just like this chapter is ending, another chapter will start. We’ll continue on this year to do the job we were hired to do by General Motors and Cadillac in a positive manner.”
For the WEC, DSC understands that multiple teams are currently presenting to Cadillac in the background and making their case to run the programme.
While the total size of the list of potential candidates is not known, several European teams with Hypercar aspirations are believed to be under evaluation.
Which of those teams is in a position to make such a transition over the next 12 months?
Yorkshire-based United Autosports, which currently represents McLaren in LMGT3, could be a candidate. It was known to have come close on two occasions to a factory Hypercar deal for 2023, only to see its plans fall through late on, resulting in a shift of focus to IMSA LMP2 and LMGT3.
TF Sport is also surely in the running. Like United Autosports, it operates to a high level in LMP2 competition as well as GT3 and told DSC late last year that it hopes to progress to the top class in the future should the finances work. Clearly, it already has a relationship with GM to build on too, as Corvette’s WEC representative.
Elsewhere in the LMP2 ranks of the ELMS, Algarve Pro Racing, Vector Sport and Inter Europol would all consider themselves capable of stepping up.
APR has been winning titles around the world in recent years, and worked alongside Ganassi in the ELMS last year to develop IndyCar prospect Kyffin Simpson. It also has a strong presence in the USA via its Crowdstrike programme.
Inter Europol has made it clear to DSC that it has been evaluating its options to compete in Hypercar following its Le Mans win in LMP2 and the category’s removal from the WEC for 2024.
Then there’s Vector Sport, which was seemingly weeks away from running Isotta Fraschini’s Hypercar programme this year before a breakdown in the relationship between it and the Italian marque led to Duqueine being brought in on short notice. A two-car factory programme though is likely a bridge too far.
Meanwhile, in the current top class of the WEC, 2024 privateers JOTA Sport and Proton Competition are known quantities and shown real potential since receiving their Porsche 963s. Might the allure of signing up a team with more than a year of top-class experience as a privateer effort lead to serious conversations?
There are real unknowns concerning the direction Cadillac will take. Two things are clear though, it remains fully committed to succeeding in both the FIA WEC and IMSA and is prepared to make bold decisions to fulfil its ambitions.
In the wake of the RACER and DSC stories we have received the following statement from Jim Campbell, GM U.S. Vice President Performance & Motorsports:
“Our GM divisions have had successful partnerships with Chip Ganassi Racing across multiple series – NASCAR, INDYCAR, EXTREME-E, IMSA and FIA WEC – over the years. Together we have won numerous races and have had great success.
“We remain committed to winning races and championships together in IMSA and FIA WEC this year.
“Our sportscar plans for 2025 will be announced at a later date.”
