BMW and Cadillac have just conducted three days of testing at Road Atlanta, following Petit Le Mans, to put their LMDh-spec Hypercars through their paces with an eye on Rolex 24 at Daytona, the opening round of the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Looking further ahead, the two manufacturers are planning to field these new machines in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (10-11 June 2023) where they will take on the likes of Porsche, Toyota, Ferrari and Glickenhaus.

Connor De Phillippi, Nick Yelloly, Augusto Farfus and Marco Wittmann took turns at the wheel of the BMW M Hybrid V8 while the Cadillac V-LMDh was driven by Pipo Derani, Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Sébastien Bourdais. “Every time you move into a new technology, there are big things to learn and many things to accomplish,” said Derani. “When you put the size of the project in comparison to the time you have to run, it makes things more difficult for everyone involved. Nevertheless, it’s a great challenge to have. The sport is heading into a promising new era.”

The Brazilian racer was delighted with the way the Cadillac V-LMDh was progressing. “The first impression is a promising one,” Derani said. “It’s a strong base, as you would expect from Cadillac and so many great minds behind the project. When you start with a new car, you never know until you’re actually competing against everyone else, but the feeling of it is actually a good feeling – one that we can start working on and developing.”

The reliability required for endurance racing was obviously the main focus of the tests, rather than pure speed. “Today was all about getting mileage,” said Brandon Fry, Technical/Race Operations Director at BMW M Team RLL, the German manufacturer’s IMSA racing structure. “Certainly, as the drivers had more time in the car, the times came down. All the cars looked like they were pretty close together.” 

You can see pictures from the tests in the photo gallery below.