Cadillac, vexed at Qatar, with 4 cars at Le Mans

WECHyperCarIMSA

Mar 6

A contact with each other while running 1-2 and a throttle issue vexed the Cadillac Racing challenge for its maiden WEC victory. Cadillac Racing now looking ahead for Le Mans with four entries.

📷© Luc Warnotte at Lusail. Cadillac V-Series.R #12 (left) and sister #38 (right).

Cadillac running 1-2 until contact

Cadillac Racing recovered from incidents in a turbulent FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season-opening Qatar 1812 Km to record its first points in its new alliance with JOTA Sport.

Extra time on pit lane and in the garage for repairs following contact with each other leading up to a restart in the third hour while running 1-2 and a throttle issue vexed the Cadillac Racing challenge for its maiden WEC victory.

Still, in the ebb and flow of endurance racing, the #12 Cadillac V-Series.R regained lead-lap position through solid work by the experienced crew and contended for a top five. The #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R, with Alex Lynn, Norman Nato and Will Stevens sharing driving duties, finished eighth in the 10-hour race on the Lusail International Circuit.

📷© Luc Warnotte at Lusail. Cadillac V-Series.R #12.

Alex Lynn: "There are many positives, but to be totally honest you can’t override the bitter feeling of the day. I have a huge amount of faith in JOTA having felt the car for the last 10 hours and knowing what we have capable of doing. Like all great sportsmen we need to pick ourselves up and carry on.”

Norman Nato: “On a personal side, it was my first race with Cadillac and, whilst obviously we were hoping for more, we have still finished in the points and that’s something. Of course it’s not what we wanted, having had such incredible pace over the past two weeks, it’s natural to want a much better result. But we finished the race and we take the experience and learnings from the race. Even on a bad day, scoring points is a positive.”

Will Stevens: “If you take a look at the week overall, we can be happy with the way we got up to speed in the car so quickly and the performance we showcased ahead of the race. On days like this, when you don’t get the results you want, it’s really important to pick up the pieces and get the best result you possibly can. Even on bad days, as a team we have to take the positives, we’ve shown good pace, we’ve demonstrated a good understanding of the car so even if it was a difficult and disappointing day, the experience will help us in the long run.”Both TOYOTA GAZOO Racing in top 6.

The sister #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R driven by Earl Bamber, Sebastien Bourdais and Jenson Button placed 16th in the 18-car Hypercar field.

📷© Luc Warnotte at Lusail. Cadillac V-Series.R #38.

Sebastien Bourdais: “Earl showed a lot of pace early on and I think our car was a lot better in the warmer conditions, as the temperatures cooled off we seemed to lose track with the lead pack - independently of the incident we had. We live and learn. We’ve run a full race, both cars finished and, although it wasn’t the result we wanted, we learned a huge amount about the set-up and race performance. We’ll take a good look at all the data and try and learn more about the car so that we can take into Imola.”

Earl Bamber: “We led the race, so that’s always a positive and we showed good pace here again at Qatar. Just a shame on our part with what happened and had another technical issue later on. Good the sister car managed to recover and score some points. Soon we have to have a nice streak. The car is quick. The people back in Detroit and Charlotte are doing some great work on the car as well, constantly pushing the boundaries and developing. If we keep in that direction we’ll be good.”

Jenson Button: “What an up and down race. I think the most important thing you take out of this race is the pace that we had in the Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R. Obviously, we made some mistakes and it looked like it was going well initially and then Earl had his incident, dropped way back and fought his way back with a staggering drive to come up to the front again. Then we had the incident behind the Safety Car and then got on with the racing after that. Unfortunately, we had penalties when we pitted when we weren’t supposed to and then (an issue) cost us another seven laps to fix the throttle. Messy day but the pace was amazing. Everyone who got in the car was super quick and I think we take a lot of positives away from the weekend.” Source: Cadillac Racing

📷© Luc Warnotte at Lusail and Daytona. 4 Cadillac V-Series.R at Le Mans 2025

Cadillac seeks Le Mans victory with 4 entries

Cadillac will return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June to challenge for the overall victory with four factory Cadillac V-Series.R racecars supported by experienced and championship-winning teams and drivers.

Event organizer Automobile Club de l’Quest extended the four invitations to Cadillac Racing, which had three Hypercar entries the past two years. The June 14-15 race marks 75 years since the first Cadillac entry at Circuit de la Sarthe and 25 years since Cadillac returned to the iconic race with four cars.

The #12 and 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R received automatic invitations based on full-season participation in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). JOTA Sport is in its first season of WEC Hypercar competition as a works team. Earl Bamber, Sebastien Bourdais, Jenson Button, Alex Lynn, Norman Nato and Will Stevens will be the drivers.

📷© Luc Warnotte at Lusail. Both Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA

The #101 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R, a full-season IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship entrant in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class, will compete at Le Mans for the first time. Ricky Taylor is listed as the primary driver.

Cadillac V-Series.R #10 — 📷© Luc Warnotte at Daytona #10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R.

The #311 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R is a full-season IMSA GTP entry campaigned by Action Express Racing that will return to Le Mans for the third consecutive year. Jack Aitken is listed as the primary driver.