Cadillac wins at Petit Le Mans: “It was stressful until the end”

Pole position went to Acura, the title to Porsche, the victory in GTD at Ferrari… There was still, among all these satisfied manufacturers, a slice of cake for Cadillac. The American manufacturer won at the end of the night of Petit Le Mans, triumphing thanks to his number 31 after ten hours of intense racing.

“We had a great car all day. I would say it started to get stressful when we had a puncture mid-race,” says Earl Bamber. “The team did an incredible strategy. We were really fast at that point. Everyone made up the pace a bit overnight. Fred (Vesti) probably set the car up really well to give us about a six- to eight-second lead at the last stop. Then, over the last two stints, we mostly managed the fuel strategy, making sure we stayed one or two laps ahead of the others on fuel consumption. Huge congratulations to the team. Huge congratulations to the guys to my left (Aitken and Vesti). They did an incredible job and the guys in the pit lane were fantastic too.”

For the crew of No. 31, the season IMSA ended with a bang, especially since they had already won the last round in Indianapolis. This second success filled the winning trio with joy.

"I'm just really proud of the whole team. As mentioned, we've been competitive all year, but we struggled at the beginning to put the results into practice," savors Frederik Vesti. “In Indianapolis, we won, and today again we had a great car, despite a big setback with the puncture. Yes, it was stressful until the end. But we managed to win, which is huge for me. My second victory in IMSA, and to win it here at Petit Le Mans, is really something very special.”

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Aitken runner-up

"We had a few races that we should have won, or probably could have won more this year, but we learned from those experiences and we improved," Earl Bamber abounds. “Now, to string together two consecutive victories is something very special for the whole team and for what we have built this 2025 season.”

The icing on the cake: Jack Aitken finished the year in second place in the championship, behind champions Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell (Porsche). An achievement the Briton hadn't really anticipated.

"It would be hard to say I expected to finish with two straight wins to conclude the season," the former pilot is surprised Williams F1 (1 GP in 2020). “On the other hand, as Earl said, we were often close this year. We often put ourselves in position to be in front, especially in the second half of the season. In the last two races, things have gone a little bit in our favor. We didn't make any mistakes, we had a fast car, and we made the right strategic decisions. But we were already doing all of that at the beginning of the season without reaping the rewards. So it's satisfying to see these wins come. It's really special to see the team take that pressure off, because they fully deserve these results. These last two weekends have been a real pleasure.”