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Spirit of Daytona returns to General Motors with Cadillac IMSA move

Spirit of Daytona Racing will return to General Motors for the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship, fielding a new driver line-up in a Cadillac Daytona Prototype International.

The raced Riley and Ligier LMP2 machinery last season, for Marc Goossens and Renger van der Zande, after running a Coyote-Chevrolet Corvette since 2012.

After a difficult first half of the year it swapped its Riley-Gibson for a Ligier JSP217 for the final three rounds of the 2017 season and won in the car's second start, at Laguna Seca.

Spirit of Daytona has now confirmed it will be the third team to run the Cadillac DPi, following the lead of dominant IMSA teams Wayne Taylor Racing and Action Express Racing.

It reunites the team with GM, with which it has been heavily associated in the past - including taking Chevrolet's first DP win in 2012.

"Last season was so difficult but even though we were on the back foot for a lot of the year, I think we learned a lot as an organization and improved as a team," said team owner Troy Flis.

"Winning at Laguna Seca was a great way to demonstrate that, and now we are focused on taking that momentum and getting a quick start with this Cadillac DPi.

"We just want to give our drivers a solid platform with the car to learn and just get better as the year goes on.

"The big thing is the opportunity to work with some of the same folks that we were so successful with when we were racing the Corvette DP.

"Hopefully that will help us get up to speed with this car quickly.

"IMSA is going to be even more competitive in 2018 and we are really looking forward to being a factor this year with our new package."

The team will test the Cadillac for the first time in the traditional pre-Daytona 24 Hours 'Roar' test on January 5-7.

Former Pro Mazda and Indy Lights champion Vautier and European Le Mans Series racer McMurry will be handed their first full-season campaigns in the series' top class.

Vautier, 28, has experience across IndyCar and leading GT categories in the US and Europe and returns to the lead prototype ranks for the first time since 2014.

McMurry, who is only 20, has crammed multiple GT and prototype campaigns into a short career that also includes becoming the youngest Le Mans 24 Hours starter, also in 2014.

The team's third driver for the endurance rounds will be revealed soon.

Zdroj: autosport.com