June 2nd, 2026 – There are big automobile races throughout the world, but one race matters more than anything to Cadillac Racing – the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The 94th edition will take place on June 13-14 at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France, and Cadillac Racing is bringing three cars and nine of the most experienced drivers in the world to the legendary endurance race.
Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA will lead the manufacturer’s charge with its two entries for the FIA World Endurance Championship: the No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R driven by Will Stevens, Norman Nato and Louis Deletraz, plus the No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R driven by Le Mans native Sebastien Bourdais, Earl Bamber and Jack Aitken.
They will be joined by IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship team Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing, which will field the No. 101 V-Series.R driven by Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque.
Cadillac Racing returns to Le Mans after last year’s edition, when it became the first American manufacturer since 1967 to sweep the front row at Le Mans with Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA securing Pole Position and P2.
The pole was the first for Cadillac at Le Mans, coming 75 years after its first Le Mans appearance in 1950 with a pair of Cadillac Coupe DeVille Series 61s, one mostly stock and another modified with a low-profile aluminum body nicknamed “Le Monstre.”
This year the program is targeting a competitive showing to show the strength of Cadillac Racing. To assist in the preparations, Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA tested in mid-May at the high-speed Silverstone Circuit.
For 2026, the aero configuration has been upgraded to improve competitiveness in race traffic. The most visually apparent is the rear wing height being much lower than the 2025 Cadillac V-Series.R. Also new for this year is a brake package that aligns suppliers and technology to the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing road car.
Albuquerque (2020 LMP2), Bamber (2015 and 2017 overall), Bourdais (2016 LMGTE Pro), Stevens (2022 LMP2 and 2017 LMGTE Am) and Taylor (2015 GTE Pro) have all won at Le Mans in their careers but they, along with their Cadillac teammates, are determined to put Cadillac Racing in contention at Le Mans.
What they’re saying
No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R:
Will Stevens: “Really looking forward to returning to Le Mans this year. We come off the back of a strong showing last year. We knew the areas we needed to work on and we have had 12 months to work on them. We feel well prepared to get on the streets of Le Mans and see where we stack up compared to the other teams. It’s always a special event and nothing comes close, so let’s hope my 11th time going to Le Mans can be a special one.”
Norman Nato: “Very excited to say it’s the Le Mans 24 Hours coming next. Pole position and a fourth-place last year was a great debut for the first time together as Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA. The team has worked hard and brought updates this season which has shown in the strong pace this year. The level in WEC is extremely high, there are a lot of good cars and drivers, so it will be for sure a very cool fight and a great show for the fans. See you in Le Mans!”
Louis Deletraz: “I’m excited to be in the No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA for the Le Mans 24 Hours. Spa and the test at Silverstone have been a great preparation for us. I got to know the team and learn the way they work, and we are well prepared for the race. Le Mans is obviously a very important event for us, an iconic race that everyone wants to win. I can’t wait to drive the Cadillac on the streets of Le Mans.”
No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R
Sebastien Bourdais: “The big one is coming, so there is lots of preparation from the entire team and JOTA and Cadillac. It’s been a colossal effort to get everything ready, and it was good to have that test session in Silverstone. We keep learning every time we are on track about the new aero kit to try to optimize our performance with the car. Hats off to everybody; they’ve done really, really well. Now it’s time to see what we really have going toward Le Mans. I think we are all excited but at the same time a little bit apprehensive because obviously when you put in so much effort with so many people, you really hope that the work gets rewarded. But quite excited and looking forward to the big one of the year.”
Earl Bamber: “Obviously the next one is the big one coming up. The Cadillac team has done an amazing job on preparation. The Silverstone test was really successful and now it’s all eyes forward to Le Mans. There has been huge amount of work on the new body and new kit for this season and the team on the 38 side have really high hopes. I think the JOTA cars have done a good job and now it’s about execution and going to the race week and we are really excited.”
Jack Aitken: “Le Mans is one of the crunch moments of the season, and an absolute highlight. I’m always excited to get there and start the race week, but am also keen to go to the race for the first time as part of a season-long effort. With the crew around me and the experience gained over the last few years with Cadillac, I’m sure we’ll be up to the challenge and put our car in the mix.”
No. 101 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R
Ricky Taylor: “Personally, I just want to focus on doing my best in the car. Last year you can see how detailed everything must be throughout the race week and going into the second year in the top class, I hope to narrow down all the details that I can control and perform at my best. For the Cadillac WTR team, I think it is a lot of the same: details and execution is key. Le Mans is so different to the style of racing we do in IMSA, so we will be much better prepared for our second year. For the test day, I hope we can run as many laps as possible. I think the track will evolve a lot and gaining confidence through laps before the official race week is always a measured approach. JOTA has been a great partner along with the Cadillac engineering team. I feel this year we have a better understanding of the car and JOTA is an amazing reference for what it takes to be successful in Le Mans.”
Jordan Taylor: “I am so excited to go back to Le Mans for our second shot at it. I think we all knew last year how big of an uphill battle it was going to be with it being our first time there as a team. We definitely made progress over the two weeks, but I feel like we are so much better prepared with an extra year of preparation. Personally, I really enjoyed driving the car there. It was my first time at Le Mans in a prototype, so I’m excited to build on what I learned there last year. The Test Day always goes by so quickly. We obviously learned a lot there last year, but we, as a team, have had a year to digest and go through everything that we learned over those two weeks, so we will have a nice list of items to work through. The track always changes so much over the week, so it’s important not to get too caught up in lap times that day, but more focus on running through all of our protocols, systems checks, and get comfortable being back in France. The relationship with JOTA has been seamless over the past year. There is constant communication back and forth between the teams. If we learn something in IMSA, we send that info over to them for WEC and vice versa. We are all very motivated heading back to Le Mans this year. We didn’t have the best showing there last year, but I feel very confident in what we’ve learned these past 12 months.”
Filipe Albuquerque: “Even though it will be my 13th time at Le Mans, I never take it for granted. I am really happy to get to do this race again and with such a great brand like Cadillac, and on top of that with WTR, Ricky and Jordan. I could not ask for more. I know this race very well but at the same time I never stop learning. So, my goal will be to do our best as a team and learn with JOTA as our teammates because setting up the car in WEC is very different than IMSA. The pre-test is to simply do as many laps as we can. These cars are complicated, we have a lot of settings on the steering wheel, and with a 13.6km track that’s a lot. To be trouble free and have things run as smoothly as possible would be the aim. Working together with JOTA has been great. We had some of their engineers in Daytona to speed up with the joker we have in the car, and I am sure we will learn a lot together in Le Mans again.”
An Interview with Jeromy Moore, Chief Engineer – Cadillac LMDh:
What are the key differences between the 2025 and 2026 Cadillac?
“For this year we redesigned the aero package to improve our ability to follow cars closely with less loss of downforce than the previous aero package. We also changed brake supplier which aligns with what is used on our CT5-V Blackwing road cars.”
How has it been specifically aero-tweaked for Le Mans?
“Le Mans is a very drag-sensitive track with the long straights and high top speeds, but also downforce is important in the high-speed Porsche Curves. We can’t make specific bodywork configurations track to track so what we take to Le Mans is what we use throughout the rest of the WEC season. We will optimize the performance of the car for Le Mans with specific mechanical setups to position the car to make it as fast in the straights as possible yet maintain the cornering speeds required to be competitive through the Porsche Curves and other high-speed corners of the track.”
How does the Le Mans-specific aero of the car influence the outcome of other races?
“As we have just one aero configuration for the whole season what we choose affects all tracks. We targeted to have an aero config that can be competitive at all tracks but of course Le Mans has a high priority. Generally, the homologation window set by the FIA/ ACO/ IMSA is quite small, such that there are no big compromises from one track to the next but as the competition is tight it is down to these small details.”
Where will the benefit transpire most?
“We should be more competitive in traffic and so lap times should be improved from last year as we have traffic every lap there. We hope to be more competitive in top speeds also.”
How does the fact that Le Mans is run on public roads, with a higher abrasiveness, influence race strategies?
“Le Mans is one of the ‘kinder’ circuits to the tires due to the long straights and less high energy corners per km to other tracks. Cars can generally run up to three stints on tires whereas some other circuits a double-stint is tricky.”
Can a sim take in all the factors which make Le Mans so unique?
“It is hard to fully simulate what we get during the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The track changes throughout the event with grip building up as the road is cleaned and rubber is put down from the cars. The simulator is a vital tool for preparation but nothing can match testing and racing on the real circuit.”
How many hours of sim did the drivers/engineers put in all together to prepare for this year’s Le Mans?
“Generally, we test in the sim before and after each event throughout the year to keep improving our correlation of the model and our understanding of the car and tires. Leading into Le Mans we have been in the simulator for four days working on setups and driver preparation. As on track testing is limited by regulation, virtual testing has never been more important.”
Facts & Stats – Cadillac Racing at Le Mans 2025-2023
2025:
Fourth (No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R) start first – Alex Lynn, Norman Nato, Will Stevens
Seventh (No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R) start second – Earl Bamber, Sebastien Bourdais, Jenson Button
Retired (No. 101 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R) start 14th – Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque
Retired (No. 311 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R) start eighth – Jack Aitken, Felipe Drugovich, Frederik Vesti
2024:
Seventh (No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R ) qualified second/start seventh – Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Alex Palou
DNF (No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R) qualified third/start second – Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, Scott Dixon
29th overall/15th in class (No. 311 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R) start 18th – Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken, Felipe Drugovich
2023:
Third (No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R) start sixth — Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Richard Westbrook
Fourth (No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R) start eighth — Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, Scott Dixon
17th overall/10th in class (No. 311 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R) start 13th — Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken, Alexander Sims
About General Motors
General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future.
GM Motorsports, including the Cadillac Formula 1® Team develops and proves advanced technologies in the most demanding environments, accelerating innovation in performance, safety, efficiency, and electrification for its production vehicles. Cadillac Racing is one of the leading manufacturers in the IMSA and FIA World Endurance Championships (WEC). Chevrolet competes in single seaters in the US IndyCar series, and in NASCAR with multiple team partners and drivers. Corvette customer teams compete in GT series across the globe including IMSA and WEC. Learn more at GM.com.
