Cadillac's earliest top-level motorsport involvement came when the Indianapolis 500 counted toward the FIA World Championship of Drivers from 1950 to 1960. In 1952, Johnny Fedricks entered a Cadillac-engined Kurtis Kraft car at the event but failed to qualify. Bill Homeier repeated the attempt in 1953 with the same result. These entries represented isolated engine supply efforts rather than a factory programme.
The first major Cadillac factory racing programme of the modern era was the Northstar LMP effort, launched in 2000 for the American Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The cars were built around a bespoke carbon fibre monocoque developed with Riley & Scott and powered by a twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre version of the Northstar V8 producing approximately 650 hp. Aerodynamicist Nigel Stroud redesigned the bodywork for 2001 on the Northstar LMP01, and for 2002, Stroud designed an entirely new chassis, the Northstar LMP02.
Two teams — factory-backed Team Cadillac and the French operation DAMS — ran the programme across three seasons. The highlight came at the 2002 24 Hours of Le Mans, where the LMP02 qualified eighth and tenth and finished ninth and twelfth. The best outright race result came at the 2002 Miami round of the ALMS, where the LMP02 of JJ Lehto and Max Angelelli finished second, fourteen seconds behind the winning Audi R8. General Motors cancelled the programme after 2002 to concentrate on the Chevrolet Corvette effort.
Cadillac returned to prototype competition in 2017 with the DPi-V.R, developed for the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship's DPi category. The programme achieved significant success in the IMSA SportsCar Championship across multiple seasons.
In 2023, Cadillac expanded to the FIA World Endurance Championship with the V-Series.R competing in the GTP class. Chip Ganassi Racing operated the manufacturer entry as a full season participant in both the WEC and IMSA, with Action Express Racing running customer V-Series.R cars in parallel.
Between the prototype programmes, Cadillac sustained a sustained competition presence through the CTS-V in the SCCA World Challenge Grand Touring class, which proved its most consistently successful domestic road racing effort.
Cadillac's most significant motorsport step came with its entry into the Formula One World Championship as a constructor from 2026. The project was initiated in January 2023 through a partnership with Andretti Global, restructured in late 2024 under TWG Motorsports following organisational changes that saw TWG Global assume business operations and Michael Andretti move to an advisory role. The Formula One Group granted final approval in March 2025 after GM paid a US$450 million expansion fee.
The team became the eleventh constructor on the Formula One grid and the first new entrant since Haas in 2016. It operates from facilities in Fishers, Indiana; Concord, North Carolina; Warren, Michigan; and Silverstone, England. Team principal Graeme Lowdon heads day-to-day operations under TWG Motorsports CEO Dan Towriss. Technical leadership includes figures drawn from the former Enstone operation, including Pat Symonds, Nick Chester, and Rob White.
For the 2026 season, the team fielded Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as race drivers, with Colton Herta as test driver and Zhou Guanyu as reserve. Ferrari engines and gearboxes power the car until GM's own power units, developed by GM Performance Power Units LLC under Russ O'Blenes, are ready for the 2029 season. The engine factory in Concord is expected to be operational by the first quarter of 2027.
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