Strong Le Mans showing comes up short for Cadillac

Cadillac put forth its strongest collective showing at Le Mans since bringing the V-Series.R to the race for the first time in 2023, but fell short of reaching the podium on Sunday, leaving its drivers somewhat disappointed.

Collectively, the two Hertz Team JOTA Cadillacs combined to lead 178 out of 381 laps at Le Mans, but its sole surviving No. 12 car of Will Stevens, Norman Nato, and Louis Delétraz finished fourth after picking up a costly drive-through penalty for speeding in a slow zone, but also fading gradually in the high temperatures on Sunday afternoon.

This after a power steering failure forced the sister No. 38 Cadillac of Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber, and Sébastien Bourdais to drop out of contention early on Sunday morning.

“Overall, this was a very good week for us, even if we did not get the result we ultimately would have liked to get,” said Dieter Gass, Team Principal of Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA.

“We have been showing pace in every session and were close to the winner right up to the checkered flag, but we were just missing that extra little bit.

“It was very unfortunate that the No. 38 had to retire from the race in a very promising position. With two cars in the mix, we were in a very strong position over a significant part of the race, but only ended up fourth, which felt like a disappointment.”

Stevens, who brought the No. 12 car home to the finish, added that it was “pretty disappointing to come away with P4. I think honestly we deserved more than that.

“The pace we showed we should have been on the podium at least. We are more in the mix than last year which is a positive. But coming here, we had higher hopes than the result we ended up with, so we can’t help but be disappointed. But we’ll come back again next year stronger.”

A small consolation, at least, was scoring the best result of the year for Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA in what had been a frustrating start to the year, compounded by the next injury which has kept Alex Lynn on the shelf all season so far.

Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing also put together a much stronger showing in its second Le Mans as it hoped, finishing in ninth place, two laps off the lead.

But it could have been more for Filipe Albuquerque and the Taylor brothers, Ricky and Jordan. The No. 101 WTR Cadillac picked up three separate drive-through penalties in the morning hours for speeding under either a Full Course Yellow or a Slow Zone, preventing a possible top-five run. They were also caught out by a full course yellow at the end of a pit window during the first few hours.

2015 Le Mans GTE Pro class winner Jordan Taylor said during the race, “We had the pace at the beginning of the race and in the night. We had one little mistake that put us back early on; in a race like this, once you get out of track position, lose that gap, and, if then you get the wrong slow zone and wrong traffic, then it kind of builds from there.

“We were on the back foot at that point, and then this morning had a couple issues of our own. We spent the last two or three stints kind of working for the No. 12 car, kind of tire testing for them to see what's gonna work for them at the end of the race.

“It has been definitely frustrating because I feel like, had we not had one of those infractions, we wouldn't have lost a lap in the night and then the safety car this morning would have put us right back in the fight of the top five.”

After the chequered flag, Taylor remarked, “It’s unfortunate, but ultimately a good experience for everyone. I think we learned a lot that we can take back to the IMSA side and hopefully close out the season with some good results for Cadillac.”