Cadillac announced it will return to racing in 2011 with a race-prepared version of its CTS-V Coupe competing in the Sports Car Club of America World Challenge, North America's top production-based racecar series.
The move returns Cadillac to a series where it competed from 2004 to 2007. Competing in the GT Class with the CTS-V Sport Sedan, Cadillac captured the Manufacturer's Championship in 2005 and 2007 and the Driver's Championship in 2005.
Cadillac will field two teams in the upcoming SCCA World Challenge GT Class with a racecar based on the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe. The CTS-V line, which also includes the CTS-V Sedan and CTS-V Wagon, was recently named to Car and Driver magazine's 10 Best list for 2011.
"Returning to racing in the SCCA World Challenge is a great way to demonstrate the performance and capability of the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe," said Don Butler, vice president for Cadillac marketing. "The racecars in this series are production based, which allows us to validate our performance against the best of our competitors on the track, and not just the showroom."
Cadillac is working with Pratt & Miller, a New Hudson, Mich., engineering firm which specializes in motorsports, to develop the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe race car. While some of the production CTS-V components will be modified due to the unique demands of racing or to meet the SCCA series' technical rules, every effort is taken to maintain as much production content as possible.