Aitken, Taylor turn laps in Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA Hypercars at WEC Rookie Test
SAKHIR, Bahrain (November 9, 2025) – Cadillac Racing drivers Jack Aitken and Ricky Taylor sampled Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA Hypercars today during the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Rookie Test.
While they are veterans in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) competition, the two sessions on the 3.36-mile (5.412km), 15-turn Bahrain International Circuit provided opportunities to further understand differences in the racecars, learn about team operations and continue to develop cross-series lines of communication in Cadillac Racing’s “one team” approach.
“It’s nice to be a rookie again,” joked Aitken, who co-drove to two victories and placed second in the GTP Drivers’ Championship in the recently completed nine-race season.
The WEC Hypercars share the same LMDh platform – Dallara chassis and Cadillac purpose-built 5.5-liter DOHC V8 engine – as the GTP racecars they drive in IMSA, with technical differences.
Both drove Cadillac Racing Hypercars for their respective IMSA teams – Aitken with Action Express Racing and Taylor with Wayne Taylor Racing – in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. Aitken set the Hypercar circuit qualifying lap record of 3 minutes, 22.742 seconds in Hyperpole 1. Taylor also drove a Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA car in July at the Goodwood Festival of Speed Hill Climb.
Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA was the revelation of the 2025 WEC campaign as the first year works team delivered Cadillac’s maiden victory in the global series, three pole starts – including the 24 Hours of Le Mans to be the first American manufacturer since 1967 to accomplish the feat – and three front row qualifying lockouts.
Cadillac placed fourth in the Manufacturers’ Championship in its third year of WEC competition and moves into the eight-race 2026 season with optimism built on a strong foundation of resilience and potential.
“This season has been a remarkable journey with JOTA. We’ve had so many learnings that we’ve taken away from the full season here,” Cadillac Racing program manager Keely Bosn said. “We’re happy with the overall performance we’ve seen from the team. The collaboration and communication have been so strong that going into the next season we’re extremely excited to continue our partnership with JOTA.”
2025 milestones
- First WEC victory (July at Brazil by No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R)
- First 24 Hours of Le Mans pole and first of three 1-2 qualifying during season
- First Le Mans pole for an American manufacturer since 1967
- 50th race (WEC/IMSA) for the Cadillac V-Series.R at WEC finale at Bahrain
Other notables
- 1-2 start and finish in Brazil
- No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R the only Hypercar to score points in all eight WEC races
- No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R qualified in top 10 in seven of eight WEC races
- Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn complete third full WEC season with Cadillac Racing
“A season of some massive highs with the front row lockout at Le Mans and the first and second in Brazil,” JOTA Sport founder and director Sam Hignett said. “And great testament to Cadillac and to the team for the 12 to be the only Hypercar to score points in every race, so that’s something we should be really proud of. Good first year, good foundation to move forward on.”
The 2026 season begins March 28 at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar with a 10-hour race.
Aitken and Taylor were recently confirmed as returning to their teams for the 2026 IMSA season. They are scheduled to participate in an IMSA-sanctioned test November 14-15 at Daytona International Speedway in preparation for the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona in January.
What they’re saying
Jack Aitken (29 laps morning session, 49 afternoon): “Probably the most interesting thigs is seeing a different philosophy of working. I think whenever you embed yourself with a new team from the one you’re familiar with you always see a slightly different style of race communication or the planning or execution. So, sampling that today was quite interesting. I think less of a difference with the car itself. There actually is a lot of crossover similarity and I felt familiar straight away in the car. On that side, we worked more on detail than anything major. We do these crossovers to learn as much as you can, but you have to be careful not to cherry pick too many things because everyone has their style and their way of working and it’s sometimes difficult to pick and choose bits of that and make it gel. Having said that, it was good to see how JOTA does things. It was a nice experience.”
Ricky Taylor (35 laps morning session, 54 afternoon): “I think any time you can drive the car is positive and you’re going to learn things, especially coming to join this team with the same car. We’re used to speaking that common GM language – how GM sets up the systems and controls and how our team interprets it and then how another team treats the same tools. And it’s interesting for me. I have notes to take back from the weekend and the team was really great to work with and it’s always really nice to be with them. In terms of experience and exposure, I think it’s nice to get a new perspective. This track is really strange. As much as everybody told me how weird it was going to be, it meets those expectations. We don’t really have a track like this in America, so taking bits of how the car behaves is kind of hard to translate. It’s not something completely different from what I’m used to. They have maybe a different way of working, different processes, so that’s nice to experience.”
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