Zilisch, Herta join returning Cadillac Racing GTP drivers for IMSA Daytona test
DETROIT (November 5, 2025) – Five weeks after lowering the curtain on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season with a Victory Circle celebration, Cadillac Racing continues preparations for 2026 championship runs with a two-day test at Daytona International Speedway.
In addition to eight returning Cadillac Racing drivers seeing track time in the Nos. 10 and 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.Rs and No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, Cadillac Formula 1Ⓡ Team test driver Colton Herta and American stock car racing star Connor Zilisch will take the wheel of a Cadillac Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) racecar for the first time.
Five sessions November 14-15 for GTP competitors are scheduled on the 3.56-mile, 12-turn road course, which will host the 2026 season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona in January.
Herta, 25, who will contest the upcoming FIA Formula 2 season with Hitech Racing, recently was confirmed to compete in the 2026 IMSA Daytona, Sebring and Road Atlanta endurance races in the No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R.
NASCAR Xfinity Series regular-season champion and rookie of the year Zilisch will get an early look at Daytona International Speedway – where he’ll make his NASCAR Cup Series full-season debut in February in the No. 99 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing – by driving the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R campaigned by Action Express Racing at the test.
“Hopefully, we’re going to make the most of it and see if this can lead to more opportunities for me in the Cadillac because it would be super cool for me to be able to race at the highest levels of endurance racing,” said Zilisch, 19, of Mooresville, North Carolina. “That’s always been a dream of mine.”
Herta and Zilisch already have had success in the twice-around-the-clock race at Daytona International Speedway.
Herta earned a GTP class podium in 2024 with Wayne Taylor Racing in addition to GTLM class (2019) and LMP2 class (2022) victories. Zilisch won the LMP2 class (2024). This past January, he co-drove a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R for Trackhouse by TF Sport in the GTD PRO class in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
The test days roster to lay the groundwork for the nine-race 2026 season in the racecars powered by the purpose-built Cadillac 5.5-liter DOHC V8 engine:
Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing
No. 10 – Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Will Stevens
No. 40 – Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta
Cadillac Whelen
No. 31 – Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber, Frederik Vesti, Connor Zilisch
“I am looking forward to unlocking more speed in our car,” said Albuquerque, who will team with Ricky Taylor for the sixth consecutive year in ’26. “We made huge steps in 2025, and I want to keep searching. I want more. I want my first win back with Cadillac. I want to be fighting for the title.”
Cadillac Racing will enter its fourth season of IMSA GTP competition with momentum from dominant victories (Indianapolis, Petit Le Mans) by the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R to close the 2025 season. The Nos. 10 and 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.Rs combined for four podium finishes.
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