From the March/April 2026 issue of Car and Driver.
Lap Time: 2:48.4
Class: LL4 | Base: $141,050 | As Tested: $150,365
Power and Weight: 668 hp • 4143 lb • 6.2 lb/hp
Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R
F: 285/35ZR-19 (103Y) MO1
R: 305/30ZR-19 (102Y)
General Motors' Brandon Vivian, whose many engineering responsibilities include the CT5-V Blackwing, might have just been feeling generous after polishing off a perfectly prepared Pittsburgh-plus-one filet, but when he told us he built the Precision package for Lightning Lap, we believed him. The performance-minded teams at GM have a keen interest in Lightning Lap and test at VIR themselves. They're competitive, and they wanted the CT5-V to be the fastest gas-powered four-door to lap VIR. We almost made it happen last year but ended up trailing the Porsche Panamera Turbo S by 0.2 second.
The Performance package is back because GM tweaked the electronically controlled limited-slip differential and Performance Traction Management (PTM) algorithms that optimize power for available traction. Also, fast sedans are fun.
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This 668-hp beast will run with C7 Corvette Z51s and decade-old 911 GT3s, but the two-tenths we needed to put the Blackwing atop the four-door leaderboard was not meant to be.
Grip was well below last year's run, where in Turn 1 the CT5-V pulled 1.08 g's. This year: just 0.98. In that corner alone we lost 0.3 second. We found a tenth in the Climbing Esses and some more in the downhill, off-camber nightmare called South Bend. That corner in particular tests your confidence in the tires and suspension ability to keep the 4143-pound Cadillac off the grass.
And while we had tire warmers—really an oven—PTM seemed to work harder than in years past. The laps would start great. Put your foot to the floor earlier than you think is possible, and the electronics find the grip for the 305/30ZR-19 rear tires. We exited Turn 1 3.9 mph faster, despite the lower lateral grip, so the PTM tweaks appear to be effective. But two and a half minutes into the lap, the rear-end grip facilitated by the PTM degraded, and the system started cutting spark to rein in the engine.
If there is any consolation to Vivian and his team, the car they were chasing, the Panamera Turbo S, is technically a hatchback. So, they have the sedan record. Sort of.
K.C. Colwell, the executive editor at Car and Driver, is a seasoned professional with a deep-rooted passion for new cars and technology. His journey into the world of automotive journalism began at an early age when his grandmother gifted him a subscription to Car and Driver for his 10th birthday. This gift sparked a lifelong love for the industry, and he read every issue between then and his first day of employment. He started his Car and Driver career as a technical assistant in the fall of 2004. In 2007, he was promoted to assistant technical editor. In addition to testing, evaluating, and writing about cars, technology, and tires, K.C. also set the production-car lap record at Virginia International Raceway for C/D's annual Lightning Lap track test and was just the sixth person to drive the Hendrick Motorsport Garage 56 Camaro. In 2017, he took over as testing director until 2022, when was promoted to executive editor and has led the brand to be one of the top automotive magazines in the country. When he’s not thinking about cars, he likes playing hockey in the winter and golf in the summer and doing his best to pass his good car sense and love of '90s German sedans to his daughter. He might be the only Car and Driver editor to own a Bobcat: the skidsteer, not the feline. Though, if you have a bobcat guy, reach out. K.C. resides in Chelsea, Michigan, with his family.
