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Cadillac shows pace, promise in WEC opener

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R scores points in first race of new alliance
LUSAIL, Qatar (Feb. 28, 2025) – Cadillac Racing recovered from incidents in a turbulent FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season-opening Qatar 1812 Km to record its first points in its new alliance with JOTA Sport.
The No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R, with Alex Lynn, Norman Nato and Will Stevens sharing driving duties, finished eighth in the 10-hour race on the Lusail International Circuit.
The sister No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R driven by Earl Bamber, Sebastien Bourdais and Jenson Button placed 16th in the 18-car Hypercar field.
Extra time on pit lane and in the garage for repairs following contact with each other leading up to a restart in the third hour while running 1-2 and a throttle issue vexed the Cadillac Racing challenge for its maiden WEC victory.
Still, in the ebb and flow of endurance racing, the No. 12 Cadillac V-Series.R regained lead-lap position through solid work by the experienced crew and contended for a top five.
Both cars, powered by the purpose-built Cadillac 5.5-liter V8 DOHC engine, displayed consistent pace on the 5.38-kilometer, 16-turn circuit on the northern outskirts of Doha and promise for subsequent races on the eight-race calendar.
Cadillac Racing began its third season of WEC Hypercar competition with an expanded lineup, while JOTA Sport kicked off its first season as a WEC Hypercar works team following two decades of success as a privateer.Photo gallery for editorial use | Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA statistics
The No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R, which qualified fourth in the Hyperpole session a day earlier, topped the lap time sheet twice in practice and testing. The No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R qualified fifth and recorded the second-quickest lap time in the two-day Prologue that totaled 14 hours of track time over four sessions.
The No. 50 Ferrari AF Corse won the race. The 6 Hours of Imola on April 20 is next on the schedule.
What they’re saying
No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R
Alex Lynn: “There are many positives, but to be totally honest you can’t override the bitter feeling of the day. I have a huge amount of faith in JOTA having felt the car for the last 10 hours and knowing what we have capable of doing. Like all great sportsmen we need to pick ourselves up and carry on.”
Norman Nato: “On a personal side, it was my first race with Cadillac and, whilst obviously we were hoping for more, we have still finished in the points and that’s something. Of course it’s not what we wanted, having had such incredible pace over the past two weeks, it’s natural to want a much better result. But we finished the race and we take the experience and learnings from the race. Even on a bad day, scoring points is a positive.”
Will Stevens: “If you take a look at the week overall, we can be happy with the way we got up to speed in the car so quickly and the performance we showcased ahead of the race. On days like this, when you don’t get the results you want, it’s really important to pick up the pieces and get the best result you possibly can. Even on bad days, as a team we have to take the positives, we’ve shown good pace, we’ve demonstrated a good understanding of the car so even if it was a difficult and disappointing day, the experience will help us in the long run.”No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.RSebastien Bourdais: “Earl showed a lot of pace early on and I think our car was a lot better in the warmer conditions, as the temperatures cooled off we seemed to lose track with the lead pack – independently of the incident we had. We live and learn. We’ve run a full race, both cars finished and, although it wasn’t the result we wanted, we learned a huge amount about the set-up and race performance. We’ll take a good look at all the data and try and learn more about the car so that we can take into Imola.”
Earl Bamber: “We led the race, so that’s always a positive and we showed good pace here again at Qatar. Just a shame on our part with what happened and had another technical issue later on. Good the sister car managed to recover and score some points. Soon we have to have a nice streak. The car is quick. The people back in Detroit and Charlotte are doing some great work on the car as well, constantly pushing the boundaries and developing. If we keep in that direction we’ll be good.”
Jenson Button: “What an up and down race. I think the most important thing you take out of this race is the pace that we had in the Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R. Obviously, we made some mistakes and it looked like it was going well initially and then Earl had his incident, dropped way back and fought his way back with a staggering drive to come up to the front again. Then we had the incident behind the Safety Car and then got on with the racing after that. Unfortunately, we had penalties when we pitted when we weren’t supposed to and then (an issue) cost us another seven laps to fix the throttle. Messy day but the pace was amazing. Everyone who got in the car was super quick and I think we take a lot of positives away from the weekend.”