No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R paces contingent with fourth place at Long Beach
LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 12, 2025) – The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R advanced three positions from its starting spot to lead the Cadillac Racing Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) contingent with a fourth-place finish in the 50th Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R picked up two positions to place sixth, while the sister No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R gained three spots to place seventh in the 11-car lineup for its best showing in three IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races this season.
Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber – along with Frederik Vesti for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring – have combined to gain 12 positions in the past two races and finish just off the podium both times in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R.
Most GTP cars visited pit lane during a full-course yellow 20 minutes into the 100-minute race for energy and the mandatory driver change. Quick work by the Action Express Racing crew got Bamber, who spelled Aitken behind the wheel of the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R back on the 1.97-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit in fourth place.
Bamber, who was making his 75th IMSA start, remained within striking distance of the pole-winning No. 24 BMW M Team RLL entry in third place over the final 54 laps, closing to .580 of a second with 20 minutes left. Bamber recorded his best lap time on three consecutive laps, including 1 minute, 13.229 seconds with 11 minutes on the clock. But with limited overtaking spots on the tight circuit, Bamber was resigned to the spot just off the podium.
The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry won the race.
Long Beach and Detroit on June 1 are the only 100-minute and street course races on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule.
Of note: The qualifying time for the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R was reinstated a few hours after the official time sheet was posted Friday. The No. 31 GTP initially incurred a penalty for working on the car (changing tires) in qualifying and the lap times were disallowed. According to IMSA: The regulation was improperly applied and in short order rescinded.
Media resources: Photos for editorial use | Cadillac Racing IMSA 2025 statistics | All-time statistics
Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing and Cadillac Whelen will participate in a test with one GTP car each next week at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in preparation for the May 9-11 race. Cadillac Racing swept the front row in qualifying in 2024 and finished second and fifth. Jordan Taylor-Louis Deletraz placed fourth and Ricky Taylor-Filipe Albuquerque finished sixth with another manufacturer.
Action Express Racing first-year endurance driver Frederik Vesti will sit in for Earl Bamber in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R at the Laguna Seca test and 2-hour, 40-minute race. Bamber will co-drive with Sebastien Bourdais and Jenson Button the No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R the same weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.
Said Vesti: “The preparation for Laguna Seca has already started and the test days will be part of that. How can we improve? What can we do to perform better on that circuit? I’m looking forward to getting back in the car.”
What they’re saying
No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R
Filipe Albuquerque: “Overall, I would say a hard weekend. We were not strong in qualifying and in the race we moved up but based on the mistakes of the other guys. P6 is a surviving result for us. Not really happy about the performance. On our side, we just need to learn the car and be more competitive.”
Ricky Taylor: “It was our first sprint race of the year and got through with no damage. I think the team learned a lot again. Unfortunately, I feel like we’re just a half a step behind each time we go on track, and every time we leave the track we say we wish we had one more session. I think that was the case again this weekend. I think if we had found what we found in qualifying a half a session earlier we would have qualified better and we would have put ourselves in better position for the race. At the end, I think we showed pace at times. Had we been in the mix, we could have salvaged maybe a top five. I think there’s progress and we’re looking forward to Laguna, which is longer race where we can strategize more and do our thing.”
No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R
Jack Aitken: “The start was a little hectic as always at a street circuit, but I kept the position and was hanging on to the coattails of the cars in front of us. The pace was pretty strong and when it came to that early yellow we decided to get the driver change and stop out the way early and try and make it to the end from there much like the rest of the field. I think if we’d been in a situation where there was another pit stop sequence, we might have been in in a position to challenge the guys in front. But passing on track is nearly impossible here, so Earl did a great job bringing it around and managing the fuel. Top five on a weekend when we didn’t look our strongest, I think it was a good result. It’s solid points and got a clean car at the end of it, so it’s good work for the championship.”
Earl Bamber: “I think the team did a fantastic job. Whenever you start here seventh and finish fourth, with a clean car or not a mark on it, I think that’s a pretty good day. I’m gutted for the team that we just missed a podium. I had one chance at it, but I thought he’d probably force me in the wall but he gave me the room, and he would have the inside for the next corner anyway. A great team result, great work in the pit lane. Now we just need to look ahead to Laguna for these guys. It’s a great working with Jack, Fred in for the next one, so I think sooner or later we’re going to get some podiums and we’ll get a win.”
No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R
Louis Delétraz: “Good points today. Not the result we want, but we had a clean race, no mistakes. We kept learning and improving, so that’s a positive. We will take all that to Laguna Seca and go get some silver because it’s time for it.”
Jordan Taylor: “For the race, we could have taken some risks for strategy. But once that first yellow came out, it kind of took that out of play. The name of the game from there was trying to not making mistakes and trying to capitalize on other people’s mistakes. Not our best weekend, but we go to test at Laguna next week, so hopefully we can learn some things there for the rest of the year.”
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