Aitken drives No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R to the top for 10-hour Petit Le Mans
BRASELTON, Ga. (Oct. 11, 2024) – Cadillac Racing completed a Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) pole bookend to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
Jack Aitken, in his first full season with Action Express Racing, delivered a blistering lap of 1 minute, 9.639 seconds in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R on the 2.54-mile, 12-turn Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta course to secure pole for Saturday’s season-concluding Motul Petit Le Mans. It is Aitken’s first career IMSA pole and fourth for the team, which also secured pole for the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Along the way were four additional earned poles for Cadillac Racing. That’s six poles in nine races for the two-car contingent in the second season of GTP competition. Also, a Cadillac will start on the front row for the seventh time.
“Congratulations to the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R team and driver Jack Aitken on securing pole position in qualifying for the 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans,” said John Roth, global vice president of Cadillac. “We are excited to get back on the track and compete for the overall win Saturday.
Sebastien Bourdais, who topped the combined lap time chart through three practice sessions Thursday in the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R, qualified fourth with a best lap of 1:09.964 in the 15-minute late afternoon session. He missed starting on the inside of Row 2 by .035 of a second.
“Pipo (Derani) told me beforehand to enjoy it and put it in the gravel or put in on pole,” said Aitken, who teamed with Derani and Alexander Sims to win the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup driver/team championship in the 2023 race. “We got the right side of that and I’m over the moon. I think we’re in a good spot and quietly confident going into the race.”
Media resource for editorial use: Cadillac Racing Petit Le Mans photo gallery
Aitken, Derani and Tom Blomqvist, who won the race the past two years with another manufacturer, will challenge for another IMEC title as will Bourdais, Renger van der Zande and Scott Dixon in the pink No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R.
Cadillac Racing is seeking its sixth IMEC championship since 2017 and second in a row. Cadillac is four points out of the top spot entering the fifth and final endurance race of the season. Points will be awarded on 5, 4, 3, 2 scale at 4, 8 and 10 hours of the race.
Similarly, the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R is four points arrears in the endurance team/driver standings, while the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R is five points back.
Cadillac Racing has recorded a first or second in every 10-hour race at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta since joining IMSA prototype competition in 2017. Van der Zande has two victories (2018, 2020) and a pair of second-place finishes (2019, 2023) with Cadillac Racing.
Peacock will stream flag-to-flag coverage of the race at noon ET Saturday in the U.S., with international feed coverage on IMSA.TV and YouTube.com/IMSAOfficial. NBC will telecast the race from noon-3 p.m.
IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and SiriusXM (XM 206, Web/App 996) will broadcast the race along with local radio 98.1 FM.
Qualifying quotes
No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R
Sebastien Bourdais (qualified fourth with best lap of 1:09.964 on lap 5 of 10): “It’s difficult to go into a qualifying where you don’t get any kind of rehearsal. With the traffic there is, we didn’t get any quali setup and so we went with what we finished with the day before. It was a bit chaotic on the build-up to the (push) lap, so I missed the window on the tire and couldn’t put a lap together after that. Disappointed, but it’s a 10-hour race and we’ll go racing tomorrow. Good job by the 31 and we’ll see if we can win one to close the season.”
No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R
Jack Aitken (pole-winning lap of 1:09.639 on lap 8 of 9): “Honestly, we felt strong most of the weekend, but I’d say there were some tweaks needed to get it right and the team did an awesome job overnight to make those small, small adjustments to make the car feel awesome. It’s a real pleasure when you have the track to yourself after all the traffic we had in practice and a car that’s working well. I just threw everything at it. We’re not in the championship hunt, so we’re here to get on pole and win the race. Pipo (Derani) told me beforehand to enjoy it and put it in the gravel or put in on pole. We got the right side of that and I’m over the moon. This is one of my most favorite tracks and a privilege to get my first pole here. I think we’re in a good spot and quietly confident going into the race. It’s definitely going to be a challenge to keep the tires where you need them to be. I think we’re seeing higher degradation in tire wear than we’re used to with these tires. You know, again, the circuit is so hard and unrelenting in that sense that if you’re not taking care of them, you can fall afoul. We’re probably going to have to double-stint a little bit earlier in the race. We’re trying to keep one eye on that. The way you win these races is by having a sharp race car at the end of the race when it’s spread for the cautions at the end. You can’t cater too much for having a conservative car to save the tires early on in the heat of the day.”
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