Cadillac Racing at Long Beach and Imola for wins

WECHyperCarIMSA

Apr 16

Cadillac Racing's five Cadillac V-Series.R on two fronts this weekend, aiming for victory at Long Beach in IMSA and at Imola in FIA WEC.

IMSA third round at Long Beach

After two races that lasted 36 hours total (the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring), Cadilliac Racing now heads to Long Beach, California for a 100-minute sprint race. It’s race three of the IMSA season as both Action Express Racing and Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing are looking for wins and points for the season-long championship.

Last year, the #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R finished fourth with Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber, while Cadillac Wayne Taylor finished sixth (#10 Ricky Tayor and Filipe Albuquerque) and seventh (#40 Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz).

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2026. from left to right: #10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R, #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, #40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R

Bamber will be overseas competing in the World Endurance Championship Six Hours of Imola for Cadillac Hertz Team Jota, so it will be Aitken and Fredrick Vesti in the #31, while the #10 and #40 cars have the same drivers as last year.

All three teams are looking for a win or a podium in the historic Long Beach Grand Prix. The #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R has had four consecutive podium finishes including two wins coming last fall at Indianapolis and Road Atlanta. They finished second in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and then third last month at Sebring.

#3 Cadillac Whelen — 📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2026. #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R

Jack Aitken: “It’s always a favorite in the calendar for me, because street circuits are just that bit more thrilling than normal tracks. We’ve generally gone well there in the past, but we will be pushing hard to keep our podium streak going. That means a good qualifying and a good stop here.”

Frederik Vesti: “Ever since I was notified of Long Beach, I’ve been extremely excited. It’s a very, very cool historical racetrack with barriers all around. It’s an awesome location. It’ll be my first time in LA. I’ve driven this track for at least eight years on the simulator so to try it out in real life with the Action Express Whelen Cadillac 31 will be very very special. And doing my second sprint race in IMSA is still a challenge and something that we will need to see and work on, obviously it’s 100 minutes and it’s a very intense race with the tight GT traffic as well. So yeah I’m looking very much forward to the challenge and hopefully we can make Earl (Bamber) proud across the world and make Cadillac proud as well. I went to Belgium with Jack to do a bike race 100-mile bike race called Tour of Flanders, which was good fun. A bit of a relaxing weekend if you can see that about 100-mile race.”

#10 Cadillac V-Series.R — 📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2026. #10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R

Filipe Albuquerque: “I have great memories at Long Beach with Cadillac. My two wins at Long Beach from the first three years I drove there are with Cadillac. Cadillac has been running really well; it draws strong speed and pace. I am motivated with our Cadillac WTR team and with Ricky Taylor. I think we are doing a good job and besides the end results that we are getting, the pace is there and we have evolved a lot from last year. So, let’s hope that we have a breakthrough in Long Beach.”

Ricky Taylor: “We get back to our normal race weekend routine at Long Beach, focusing on the small details to execute the whole weekend as well as we can. Everything in Long Beach is important, starting from Practice 1. Everything has to be right from practice through the race. No flat spots in practice, good qual prep, good qualifying, perfect pit stop/driver change. There is no room for any errors if we are going to win this race.”

#40 Cadillac V-Series.R — 📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2026. #40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R

Louis Deletraz: “I’m really excited for Long Beach, it’s always a great event. It’s very short, only two days. Friday is always very busy with all of the practices and qualifying. Obviously, it’s a different approach from Daytona and Sebring where we were fast but in endurance races you need to survive the first hours and race towards the end, but here at Long Beach it’s a full sprint. You want to be up front and stay up front. It’s really a full push. I think a crucial aspect of the weekend will be pure pace and racing hard. It’s street race, the surface is different and bumpy – the walls are everywhere and doesn’t forgive mistakes. So, it’s always exciting and I’m sure Cadillac will do great; it’s always strong on street tracks and bumpy tracks. I’m looking forward to driving the V-Series.R around the streets of California.”

Jordan Taylor: “The Cadillac V-Series.R always seems to suit street courses well. Over the past few years, it has always been strong at Long Beach and Detroit. We’ve made some big gains on setup and systems since this time last year, so I’m excited to see how we go this weekend.” Source: Cadillac Racing

FIA WEC Season starts at Imola

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA are in Imola off the back of two successful days of testing in Qatar. The team achieved valuable running time, completing just shy of 450 laps (2,500km) of the track, with the car running reliably.

Looking at the timesheets of the official Prologue’s two-sessions the initial results were not impressive for a team that delivered a maiden WEC victory, along with three pole positions last season. Both Cadillac V-Series.R were at the bottom of the combined timesheet with a P13 and a P14, 1.436 and 1.711 seconds slower than the category benchmark.

Two drivers lineups at Imola

Norman Nato and Will Stevens will return to drive the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R powered by the purpose-built Cadillac 5.5-litre DOHC V8 engine. Alongside Alex Lynn, the trio scored points in every race last season, took the team’s victory in Brazil and placed fifth in the 2025 Hypercar Drivers’ Championship. Alex will miss Imola and Spa as he undergoes a planned procedure for an on-going neck issue.

Norman Nato: “After the delayed start to the season, I’m looking forward to getting back in the car and back to business. Over the winter I have been working with the team in the simulator a lot. The Prologue will provide us with the opportunity to see the progress that we have made. Imola is such an iconic track and it’s always a special weekend with passionate fans, so I am excited to be back.”

Will Stevens: “I’m really looking forward to getting back on track in Imola. Bahrain seems so long ago now! We have had a good winter reviewing last year and working on areas we can improve on for 2026. We had a strong test in Qatar earlier this year and I feel ready to get this season started after a long break.”

Earl Bamber and Sebastien Bourdais, who secured three front row qualifying results and a podium finish last season, return in the #38 car. They will be joined by IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP endurance Champion Jack Aitken from Spa onwards. Jack is running a dual programme with Cadillac Racing, and this weekend will be competing in the IMSA race at Long Beach.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2026. #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R

Earl Bamber: “I’m happy to get the season underway. Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA have done a huge amount of work in the off-season. We had a successful end to last year and Cadillac have had a good start to the year in IMSA so we are hoping for more of the same in Imola. Traffic is always a factor at Imola and overtaking is tricky due to the narrow, high speed bumpy nature of the track, so a strong qualifying run will be key.”

Sebastien Bourdais: “I’m excited to get going. We have been working hard preparing for the start of the season. I’ve been on the sim and also had the opportunity to drive the car on track during the two day test in Qatar. The new aero package is working well and the Prologue will give us a valuable opportunity to get additional track time, as well as see how the car handles on the tight and twisty Imola circuit.” Source: Cadillac Racing

Cadillac Racing at Long Beach and Imola for wins

IMSA third round at Long Beach

FIA WEC Season starts at Imola

Two drivers lineups at Imola

Third and last season for Alpine Endurance Team