Cadillac F1 to be managed by global group TWG Motorsports. Dan Towriss named CEO of racing portfolio

By Canadian Press on February 25, 2025.

The group that owns Cadillac Formula 1 officially launched TWG Motorsports on Tuesday as the division responsible for its rapidly growing motorsports portfolio.

TWG Global is the main company owned by co-chairs Mark Walter and Thomas Tull and has controlling interest in the Los Angeles Dodgers, Premier League club Chelsea, the Professional Women’s Hockey League, and stakes in the Los Angeles Lakers and other ventures.

The Cadillac F1 team is expected to join the grid in 2026. TWG Motorsports is also the majority owner of Andretti Global, which competes in IndyCar, Indy NXT and Formula E; NASCAR team Spire Motorsports, which won last weekend’s Truck Series race and nearly won the Cup Series race; the two-car IMSA sports car GTP program fielded by Wayne Taylor Racing; and Walkinshaw Andretti United, the Bathurst 1000-winning race team competing in Australia’s Supercars Championship.

Dan Towriss, longtime partner of Walter, was named CEO of TWG Motorsports. Towriss will also retain his role as CEO of Group 1001 Insurance, a U.S. financial services firm with more than $66 billion in assets under management.

“Dan has been instrumental in forming the landmark Cadillac Formula 1 team in partnership with General Motors and acquiring for TWG Global a broad racing portfolio that includes Andretti Global, Wayne Taylor Racing, and Spire Motorsports,” Walter said in a statement.

TWG Motorsports was formed in late 2024, not long after Michael Andretti stepped aside as leader of Andretti Global. Andretti’s step back helped push through the Cadillac F1 bid, which had previously been denied by Formula One Management.

Andretti plans to be at this weekend’s IndyCar season-opening race in St. Petersburg, Florida, Towriss said in an interview with The Associated Press. The two spoke earlier this month before the Daytona 500.

“He’s good. We were just talking, you know, motorsports, we were talking about how each of the teams were doing,” Towriss said. “He wanted to talk about how the team was doing.”

Andretti was engaged — just not in the day-to-day operations — because that is now Towriss’ job. He was thrilled following the NASCAR weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where Kyle Busch won the Truck Series race and Carson Hocevar made a late move that backfired to try to win the Cup Series race. Hocevar finished second, which is almost like a victory to growing Spire Motorsports.

TWG and Towriss have been supporters of Spire for several years but Towriss only last season bought into the team by acquiring the stakes of former team co-owner T.J. Puchyr. Jeff Dickerson, the other team founder, runs the team.

“I can’t say enough good things about Jeff Dickerson and the work that he’s done and the kind of partner that he is in that series,” Towriss said. “Each of these racing series actually fit into the culture that we’re building at TWG. It’s consistent with the culture of the company I built on the insurance side, through Group 1001, and it’s going to be fun to see, to watch each of these teams grow.”

Which begs the question, how did a businessman in Indiana with zero racing experience suddenly find himself running teams in nearly every major racing series?

“When you put it that way, it seems very puzzling, doesn’t it?” Towriss acknowledged.

But motorsports is business — and can be successful when done correctly — and TWG Global is committed to expanding its portfolio.

“Years ago, people were asking ‘Why did you buy a baseball team? Or why did you do this?’ And I think we see a business opportunity,” Towriss said. “The question is, ‘What are you trying to build?’ So we wanted to see the building blocks of a global motorsport series that’s participating in every iconic motorsport race on the planet. There’s a lot of excitement about that.

“So it was just a vision that I had to put those pieces together.”

Towriss believes the TWG brand can transform the motorsports space and “set new standards for the industry and build a legacy of success across the globe.’’

He’ll make the switch this weekend from NASCAR to IndyCar, where the season will open on the downtown streets of St. Petersburg with lofty goals for the three-car Andretti team. Colton Herta, a candidate for the Cadillac F1 lineup, finished second in last year’s season standings but his two victories were the only two wins amongst the three Andretti drivers.

The team fields cars for Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson and Kyle Kirkwood, who won twice in 2023. Towriss’ goal for this year is an Indianapolis 500 win and IndyCar championship; Andretti drivers have not won either since Ryan Hunter-Reay won the 2012 series title and Takuma Sato won the 500 in 2017.

Towriss also wants to be in routine conversation about contenders with Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing. Josef Newgarden won back-to-back Indy 500s for Penske, and Alex Palou has won three of the last four IndyCar titles for Ganassi.

Towriss noted that IndyCar television partner Fox Sports has debuted three high-level commercials that feature Newgarden, Palou and McLaren driver Pato O’Ward — while the Andretti drivers have been shut out of the marketing campaign.

“I feel responsibility for the Andretti legacy and I think seeing them get back to their winning ways is very important,” Towriss said. “We’ve put a lot of effort into getting the team back to being a top-tier performer, to consistently winning in IndyCar, and the team wants it bad.”

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press

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