Caddy Finishes 1-2 at 24 Hours of Daytona

A pair of Cadillac DPi-V.R prototype race cars took the top two spots at this year’s 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race that was completed on Sunday.

Competing in the premier Prototype class, Wayne Taylor Racing’s Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R edged out Action Express Racing’s Mustang Sampling DPi-V.R by less than 0.7 seconds to take the checkered flag. A third Caddy DPi-V.R finished sixth after falling back due to technical problems encountered one-third of the way into the race.

Piloted by Ricky Taylor, the winning car nudged past its stablemate—the contact was ruled incidental—on lap 656, then held on for the final three laps. The rest of the driving team consisted of Max Angelelli, Jeff Gordon and Jordan Taylor.

The race marked Cadillac’s first entry in the Prototype class in 14 years. The trio of Dpi-V.R racers were powered by a specially designed version of GM’s naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V-8 engine that powers the Cadillac CTS-V sedan and Escalade SUV. The Dpi-V.R powerplants were tuned by North Carolina-based ECR Engines.

Third place went to Visit Florida Racing’s Multimatic-Riley car, followed by Tequila Patron ESM’s Nissan Dpi. Chip Ganassi Racing finished fifth with a Ford GT to win the GT Le Mans class, while Alegra Motorsports’ Porsche 911 GT3 R was first in the GT Daytona class.

The event saw 41 of the 55 entrants still racing at the finish. More than half of the race was driven under caution flags due to accidents and severe weather. The 12-turn, 3.6-mile track is made up of portions of the Daytona Speedway’s tri-oval and an infield road course.