Cadillac Racing returns to Le Mans with three cars

WECHyperCar

Jun 2

The 94th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place on June 13-14 at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans and Cadillac Racing is bringing three cars and nine of the most experienced drivers in the world to the legendary endurance race.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Le Mans 2025. Three Cadillacs V-Series.R

Cadillac Racing returns to Le Mans after last year’s edition, when it became the first American manufacturer since 1967 to sweep the front row at Le Mans with Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA securing Pole Position and P2.

The pole was the first for Cadillac at Le Mans, coming 75 years after its first Le Mans appearance in 1950 with a pair of Cadillac Coupe DeVille Series 61s, one mostly stock and another modified with a low-profile aluminum body nicknamed “Le Monstre.”

Five previous winners among 9 talented drivers

Albuquerque (2020 LMP2), Bamber (2015 and 2017 overall), Bourdais (2016 LMGTE Pro), Stevens (2022 LMP2 and 2017 LMGTE Am) and Taylor (2015 GTE Pro) have all won at Le Mans in their careers but they, along with their Cadillac teammates, are determined to put Cadillac Racing in contention at Le Mans.

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA will lead the manufacturer’s charge with its two entries for the FIA World Endurance Championship: the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R driven by Will Stevens, Norman Nato and Louis Deletraz, plus the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R driven by Le Mans native Sebastien Bourdais, Earl Bamber and Jack Aitken.

This year the program is targeting a competitive showing to show the strength of Cadillac Racing. To assist in the preparations, Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA tested in mid-May at the high-speed Silverstone Circuit.

For 2026, the aero configuration has been upgraded to improve competitiveness in race traffic. The most visually apparent is the rear wing height being much lower than the 2025 Cadillac V-Series.R. Also new for this year is a brake package that aligns suppliers and technology to the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing road car.

#12 2025 Cadillac V-Series.R — 📷 © Luc Warnotte at Le Mans 2025. #12 2025 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R

Will Stevens(#12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R): “Really looking forward to returning to Le Mans this year. We come off the back of a strong showing last year. We knew the areas we needed to work on and we have had 12 months to work on them. We feel well prepared to get on the streets of Le Mans and see where we stack up compared to the other teams. It’s always a special event and nothing comes close, so let’s hope my 11th time going to Le Mans can be a special one.”

Norman Nato(#12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R): “Very excited to say it’s the Le Mans 24 Hours coming next. Pole position and a fourth-place last year was a great debut for the first time together as Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA. The team has worked hard and brought updates this season which has shown in the strong pace this year. The level in WEC is extremely high, there are a lot of good cars and drivers, so it will be for sure a very cool fight and a great show for the fans. See you in Le Mans!”

Louis Deletraz(#12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R): “I’m excited to be in the No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA for the Le Mans 24 Hours. Spa and the test at Silverstone have been a great preparation for us. I got to know the team and learn the way they work, and we are well prepared for the race. Le Mans is obviously a very important event for us, an iconic race that everyone wants to win. I can’t wait to drive the Cadillac on the streets of Le Mans.”

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Le Mans 2025. #38 2025 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R

Sebastien Bourdais(#38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R): “The big one is coming, so there is lots of preparation from the entire team and JOTA and Cadillac. It’s been a colossal effort to get everything ready, and it was good to have that test session in Silverstone. We keep learning every time we are on track about the new aero kit to try to optimize our performance with the car. Hats off to everybody; they’ve done really, really well. Now it’s time to see what we really have going toward Le Mans. I think we are all excited but at the same time a little bit apprehensive because obviously when you put in so much effort with so many people, you really hope that the work gets rewarded. But quite excited and looking forward to the big one of the year.”

Earl Bamber(#38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R): “Obviously the next one is the big one coming up. The Cadillac team has done an amazing job on preparation. The Silverstone test was really successful and now it’s all eyes forward to Le Mans. There has been huge amount of work on the new body and new kit for this season and the team on the 38 side have really high hopes. I think the JOTA cars have done a good job and now it’s about execution and going to the race week and we are really excited.”

Jack Aitken(#38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R): “Le Mans is one of the crunch moments of the season, and an absolute highlight. I’m always excited to get there and start the race week, but am also keen to go to the race for the first time as part of a season-long effort. With the crew around me and the experience gained over the last few years with Cadillac, I’m sure we’ll be up to the challenge and put our car in the mix.” Source: Cadillac Racing

Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing

They will be joined by IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship team Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing, which will field the #101 V-Series.R driven by Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque.

Ricky Taylor (#101 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R): “Personally, I just want to focus on doing my best in the car. Last year you can see how detailed everything must be throughout the race week and going into the second year in the top class, I hope to narrow down all the details that I can control and perform at my best. For the Cadillac WTR team, I think it is a lot of the same: details and execution is key. Le Mans is so different to the style of racing we do in IMSA, so we will be much better prepared for our second year. For the test day, I hope we can run as many laps as possible. I think the track will evolve a lot and gaining confidence through laps before the official race week is always a measured approach. JOTA has been a great partner along with the Cadillac engineering team. I feel this year we have a better understanding of the car and JOTA is an amazing reference for what it takes to be successful in Le Mans.”

Jordan Taylor (#101 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R): “I am so excited to go back to Le Mans for our second shot at it. I think we all knew last year how big of an uphill battle it was going to be with it being our first time there as a team. We definitely made progress over the two weeks, but I feel like we are so much better prepared with an extra year of preparation. Personally, I really enjoyed driving the car there. It was my first time at Le Mans in a prototype, so I’m excited to build on what I learned there last year. The Test Day always goes by so quickly. We obviously learned a lot there last year, but we, as a team, have had a year to digest and go through everything that we learned over those two weeks, so we will have a nice list of items to work through. The track always changes so much over the week, so it’s important not to get too caught up in lap times that day, but more focus on running through all of our protocols, systems checks, and get comfortable being back in France. The relationship with JOTA has been seamless over the past year. There is constant communication back and forth between the teams. If we learn something in IMSA, we send that info over to them for WEC and vice versa. We are all very motivated heading back to Le Mans this year. We didn’t have the best showing there last year, but I feel very confident in what we’ve learned these past 12 months.”

Filipe Albuquerque (#101 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R): “Even though it will be my 13th time at Le Mans, I never take it for granted. I am really happy to get to do this race again and with such a great brand like Cadillac, and on top of that with WTR, Ricky and Jordan. I could not ask for more. I know this race very well but at the same time I never stop learning. So, my goal will be to do our best as a team and learn with JOTA as our teammates because setting up the car in WEC is very different than IMSA. The pre-test is to simply do as many laps as we can. These cars are complicated, we have a lot of settings on the steering wheel, and with a 13.6km track that’s a lot. To be trouble free and have things run as smoothly as possible would be the aim. Working together with JOTA has been great. We had some of their engineers in Daytona to speed up with the joker we have in the car, and I am sure we will learn a lot together in Le Mans again.” Source: Cadillac Racing