Open and transparent communication key to success
The #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R is the only of FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Hypercar entry to score points in each of the five races. Qatar 1812 km and 6 Hours of Imola saw #12 ending 8th and 10th while sister #38 ended 16th in both first rounds. The turn around occurred at Spa where both Cadillac ended 5th and 6th.
📷© Luc Warnotte at Le Mans 2025: Both Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R.
The velocity of both cars was confirmed with a front line lock at Le Mans and São Paulo. Both cars ended in top 7 at Le Mans with #12 at the foot of the podium.
Brazil saw Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA scoring the double, gaining two positions in the Manufacturers’ Championship. Cadillac sits now second with three races left.
📷© Courtesy of FIA WEC at São Paulo: #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R and #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R
In the Drivers’ Championship, Alex Lynn, Norman Nato, Will Stevens driving the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R moved up three positions to third (68 points) and is 37 points out of the lead with a maximum 91 points available over three races.
The #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R, which has started from the pole the past two races, is the only Hypercar entry to qualify in the top 10 in each race.
Cadiilac Hertz Team JOTA first five rounds WEC 2025
Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA team principal Dieter Gass, former head of Audi Motorsport, tells us about the cooperation with Cadillac coordinating the two programs in IMSA and WEC which is determinant for the progress of the Cadillac V-Series.R in WEC.
📷© Luc Warnotte at Losail. #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R (8th) and #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R (16th).
Q: First year as a factory team, five races in, and now a second consecutive pole and double podium. You must be quite proud?
“Well, it was a fantastic day for us really, for everybody at JOTA and GM, everybody was really craving for that success. And the car was fast. We've seen that many times already last year, but the results didn't come until Sunday. Everything was falling together and we even managed to get a one-two, which is really something absolutely outstanding.”
📷© Luc Warnotte at Imola. #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R (10th) and #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R (16th)
Q: With your long involvement in global motorsports, you know it's not easy or quick to put together a successful program. Would you speak to some of the things that have gelled for JOTA and GM?
“I think, at the end of the day, we’re still learning. You have to admit that. In Sāo Paulo, everything fell together nicely so that was good, but we're still learning. I mean five races into that program, into that cooperation with Cadillac is not a lot. There's still plenty of things to discover as well as plenty of things to improve. So, obviously, I'm not going to sit back and relax. We're going to try and move on and hopefully carry on that way.”
📷© Luc Warnotte at Spa-Francorchamps: Both Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R ended 5th and 6th.
Q: From the competition side, the engineering side, the drivers, open communication, is it difficult to make those things mesh quickly and be on the same page?
“I think open and transparent communication has always been a JOTA thing. We have always done that from day one. We have been pushing that as well in the cooperation with GM and with the IMSA teams, because we have seen it as well in the previous years with where we were a customer team with a different manufacturer. In the first year, they were struggling a lot. I think they were benefiting from us getting original information, but at the end of the day, between year one and year two, they made a big step and that was mainly because they managed to coordinate the two programs in IMSA and WEC. And this is something that we could observe from the first row, basically. And that was one of the reasons why we have been pushing that from the beginning, why we are interested in doing that and why we're going to continue pushing that. But there's still plenty of things to learn as well with the drivers for me is still a reasonably big thing as well because if we know everybody's super emotional with a thing and especially the drivers when they're in the car. For me, personally, there's still a lot to be understood on how they think, how they work and how effectively get the best out of them.” Source: Cadillac Racing
📷© Luc Warnotte at Le Mans: #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R
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