It was a race full of drama, resilience, and ultimately triumph for the Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA at the Lone Star Le Mans. In one of the most competitive rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship season, Cadillac's two entries delivered a performance that showcased exactly what this program is made of, with the No. 38 earning the team's best finish of the season with a well-deserved second place result.
The trio of Jack Aitken, Sébastien Bourdais, and Earl Bamber qualified second and raced at the front throughout the six-hour event, at one point leading the field before a series of safety car periods erased the gap they had built and dropped them down the order. Rather than accept the setback, the team regrouped and fought back with a strong final stint, crossing the finish line in third before being promoted to second place following a five-second penalty handed to the No. 35 Alpine for an unsafe release.
"We kept yo-yoing back and forth from the lead to further down the top ten, and it was hard to see where we were going to end up," Aitken said. "But we managed to fight through and secure a fantastic podium on home soil."
Bamber echoed the sentiment: "The team executed a perfect race. We were leading at one stage and managed to fight back through a strategy disadvantage twice with the safety cars. Everyone is really happy."
Bourdais summed it up perfectly: "To fight back to P2 out of that is a really good result for the whole team. We keep chipping away and aim to get more points in the final few races of the season."
Starting from P15 after a difficult qualifying session, the No. 12 crew of Will Stevens, Norman Nato, and Ricky Taylor faced an uphill battle from the opening lap. Going with an alternate pit strategy to separate themselves from the front runners, the car made steady progress through the field before a poorly timed virtual safety car and a late five-second penalty for a track limits infringement complicated their afternoon. Despite it all, the team held on to finish ninth in class, collecting valuable championship points for Cadillac.
"From where we started, finishing in the points is a big positive for the manufacturer championship," Nato said. "Two podiums in a row for the team is a great result and we keep pushing."
Cadillac Racing Program Manager Keely Bosn captured the spirit of the weekend perfectly: "What a race and an incredible effort from the entire team today. The team never gave up, and the second place result is a great reminder to always fight until the very end."
Back-to-back podium results for the Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA program is a clear sign of momentum, and the championship battle is very much alive heading into the final rounds of the season.
The same fighting spirit and pursuit of excellence that drives Cadillac on the world's greatest racing circuits lives in every vehicle on our showroom floor.