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Alonso's Cadillac team wins 2019 24 Hours of Daytona

Two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso won the rain-shortened 24 Hours of Daytona, overhauling Felipe Nasr two laps from the eventual finish on Sunday. The Spaniard became only the third Formula One champion to win the race, joining Phil Hill (1964) and Mario Andretti (1972). "It's amazing," Alonso told NBCSN. "Just an amazing experience with this team, from the test and now the race –- a perfect execution of the race. "Very different conditions and we've been competitive in everything –- dry, wet, night and day. Really happy for the team and all the guys." Alonso, who retired from Formula One racing after the 2018 season, said the victory would rank very high among all his accomplishments. "To win this kind of endurance racing at iconic places like Daytona means a lot," he said. "With zero experience and background in endurance before (last year) it's quite a big thing." Already the winner of last year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 37-year-old Alonso will attempt to complete the Triple Crown of motorsports by capturing the Indy 500 in May. Driving the Wayne Taylor Cadillac DPI, Alonso took command of the race for keeps when Brazilian Nasr failed to navigate turn one and drove into deep water, losing a 1.5-second advantage. By the time Nasr had things under control, Alonso was 12 seconds ahead. Kamui Kobayashi, Jordan Taylor and Renger vanDer Zande teamed up with Alonso for the victory in his second try in the 24-hour race which was twice red-flagged because of rain and water on the track and was halted 10 minutes early. "With all the rain, I've never seen a race like this," Team Penske boss Roger Penske told NBCSN. Alexander Rossi was the only other driver to finish in the lead lap. He took third. Italian Alex Zanardi's return to endurance racing 17 years after he lost both legs in a horrific race wreck got off to a bad start 90 minutes into the race, At the beginning of his first stint driving, Zanardi encountered a problem with his steering wheel. The 52-year-old was using a special wheel with hand controls for the car, and the connecting pins were damaged when he attempted to connect it as the car was dropped from the jack. His No. 24 BMW Team RLL team finished 32nd overall and ninth in class. Full results. Related Video: Featured Gallery 24 Hours of Daytona 2019 View 20 Photos Motorsports Cadillac daytona

GM alerting truck and sedan owners to a do-over on brake recall

A recall campaign intended to address issues with braking systems on certain 2019 General Motors trucks and sedans may have introduced a new issue, the automaker has acknowledged, and thousands of owners driving repaired vehicles may need to return to their service departments for another update.  The update addresses a fix that was pushed out to owners of more than half a million brand-new GM trucks and sedans that could potentially lose partial braking function, according to the Detroit Free Press. The original software fix helped address situations where the vehicles' anti-lock braking systems would become disabled, which in turn would prevent electronic stability control from activating. Vehicles subject to the recall would often experience software glitches that prevented them from properly communicating the operational state of these systems, meaning drivers would have no idea that their brakes may not behave as expected in an emergency. The 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Cadillac CT6, and GMC Sierra 1500 were all recalled in the original campaign.  Unfortunately, the early version of this fix appears to have introduced yet another software glitch, indicating that the original fix did not do the trick. Those who have not yet had their cars serviced can rest easy; they will only receive the most up-to-date version of the software fix.  Related video    

Forget everything you know about Cadillac V

Cadillac rolled out the CT4-V and CT5-V performance sedans to a rather confused group of journalists last night. What are these cars? Only 355 horsepower in the CTS-V replacement? And just 320 horsepower for the ATS-V successor? Surely, there's something out of place — you can get up to speed with all the details here. Cadillac understood our confusion and explained what was going on rather quickly. The explanation means you have to forget everything you know about what "V" means for a Cadillac, though. Any Cadillac with the singular "V" badge on it previously has denoted the absolute top-tier of performance for that particular model. The CTS-V had the Corvette Z06 engine in it and made 640 horsepower. The ATS-V had a boosted 3.6-liter V6 good for a raucous 464 horsepower. They were equivalent to BMW M, Mercedes-AMG or an Audi RS. We're not talking about the lesser M or AMG models, either. No, the last Cadillac Vs were meant to compete with cars like the C63 or M3, the top-tier of performance in those brands' lineups. This is where you're going to have to start re-learning, because that's no longer the case for a Cadillac with a V badge gracing the rear end. What Cadillac has essentially done is demote what V means, with the intention of offering "something else" above it. With this new strategy, we'd equate a Cadillac V to something like an AMG 43, M340i, or Audi with an S badge on it. Cadillac has even come out with a car similar to this strategy before in the V-Sport. That didn't confuse everybody, though, because the name was different, and the strategy was clear. Now, Cadillac V is just a small stepping stone to these mysterious high performance cars still to come. We asked for any information concerning these future track-ready, fire-breathing monsters, but mum is the word for now. The naming strategy for something above a V is uncharted territory, and it'll also force everyone to learn what the top of the Cadillac lineup is all over again. Cadillac CT5-V View 6 Photos Why confuse folks like this? Cadillac wants to take advantage of the V brand cache in more of its lineup than just two super sedans. Think future vehicles like an XT5-V, XT4-V and others like that. Now that V doesn't mean a Nurburgring-conquering 500+ horsepower luxury muscle car, it makes it far easier for Cadillac to get V badges on everything. Obviously, GM isn't the first to think of this strategy.