Cadillac Racing finished 1-2 at Indianapolis.

IMSA

Sep 22

Cadillac Racing started and finished 1-2 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The pole-sitting #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R delivered the first victory of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season for Cadillac

📷 © Courtesy of Cadillac Racing: Cadillac Racing P1 and P2.

Whelen Cadillac wins Battle on the Bricks

The trio of Cadillac Racing cars led 236 of the 243 laps, with the #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R topping the list at 210. The #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R won the two-lap dash to the checkers following a short full-course yellow by .988 of a second.

Aitken, who started on pole for the first time since the 2024 season-concluding Petit Le Mans, started and closed out the race. Vesti took over 79 minutes into the contest, with the first-year endurance driver being relieved by Bamber with 2 hours, 22 minutes left.

Aitken then took over with 82 minutes remaining with full fuel and fresh tires, but with instructions to save as much energy as possible.

When Ricky Taylor in the #10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R overtook the #60 Acura for second with 13 minutes left, the Action Express Racing pit stand exclaimed “we have a friend behind.”.

#31 Cadillac Racing — 📷 © Courtesy of Cadillac Racing: #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R in front of the pack.

Action Express Racing’s 30th IMSA victory

In dominating the six-hour TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, drivers Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti also presented Action Express Racing, which is in its 14th year aligned with General Motors, its 30th IMSA victory and 100th podium.

📷 © Courtesy of Cadillac Racing: #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R.

Jack Aitken: “We’ve got a great team from A to Z and that includes my teammates. Any one of us could have finished it off. With the length of the race and how it was going, it was better to get a fresh one in. It was intense, so I’m glad we did. With about an hour to go, we looked like we weren't going to be able to make it on fuel. But there were some cars in the same position behind us. And I just went on a real big save to see what I could do. And we managed to hold the lead and actually start saving what we needed, which was massive. It was working out. The 10 came through and was a sight for sore eyes, so they helped play a bit of defense. And then with the yellow at the end, it saved us as well from any further troubles.”

Earl Bamber: “It’s been an amazing weekend for the Whelen Cadillac. We were talking this week, and we’ve been knocking on the door a lot. We were knocking on the door at Road America. We knocked on the door at Watkins Glen, and we said soon it’s going to open for us. Today it opened. Jack did an amazing job. Everyone on the team did great pit stops. We’ve been the best on pit lane this year and now finally everything went our way. It’s awesome. We’ve got Petit in two weeks and Fuji next week, so let’s go.”

Frederik Vesti: “This is huge for the team and for me. I’m super proud of everybody at Cadillac and Whelen. It’s been a hard year so far, but to step on the top step of the podium is massive for us. It's been a strong, amazing weekend from the Whelen Cadillac. The team worked together, and this result proves that it was a team effort. My stint I am extremely happy. I led every single I was out there and pulled gaps multiple times. I'm proud and happy of the whole team. We’re ready for more.”

Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque second

The #10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R, which started third with Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque sharing duties, ran at the front, rear and everywhere in between before coming on strong in the final 45 minutes to place second. The last Cadillac Racing 1-2 finish was at Long Beach in April 2024.

Albuquerque-Taylor P2 — 📷 © Courtesy of Cadillac Racing: Albuquerque-Taylor second

Filipe Albuquerque: “I’m speechless, because at one point I was so mad at my race. I had a puncture, I was fighting. I was in the middle of everything at P10. We went a lap down; we had no chance at all and no yellows coming. Then Ricky went on doing what only Ricky can. A yellow came, we went back to the lead lap, fighting back with a completely different strategy. We were putting pressure on everybody to push. It was interesting. We needed a yellow, otherwise we needed to pit and drop back to P10. The yellow came at the exact right moment and we got P2. It’s a great result. P2 today is like a win. We were lucky, we must say that. It’s funny that one week ago I was racing and the yellow came one lap too late. It’s incredible how in life, it takes away and it gives you back. It’s nice, it’s a good feeling. A Cadillac 1-2 is awesome. You always want to be the winner, but today, it feels like a win because we came from a long way back.”

Ricky Taylor: “Some days, things don’t fall your way and some days, they do. It has been a really rough year for us. Today the team did everything right. Filipe drove an amazing stint. Unlucky with the puncture, but I think we took the risks we needed to take with fuel savings and overtaking to gamble to get a Cadillac win. Between the Cadillacs, we had three different strategies and I think that is what we need to do as a brand going forward. Couldn’t be happier. It was fun to be in the car at the end. Thanks to the team, Cadillac and DEX. Hopefully, we can get our first win at Petit Le Mans.” Source: Cadillac Racing