| DETROIT (Sept. 28, 2026) – Jack Aitken, driver of the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, was a guest on an IMSA media teleconference to discuss the upcoming 29th Annual Motul Petit Le Mans from the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia on October 3. Aitken will drive with Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti. Just one Cadillac needs to start the race for the brand to clinch their fifth IMSA manufacturer title since 2017 and their 11th overall. And when the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac starts the race, Action Express Racing will unofficially clinch the team title, which will be the seventh for the organization. (The car must pass tech post-race). Heading into Road Atlanta, Aitken needs to finish ninth or better in class to lock up the driver championship. But qualifying awards points, so depending on where Aitken qualifies as well as second-place Lauren Heinrich, the only driver that can catch Aitken, there is a chance he could clinch the title after Thursday qualifying. Heinrich must win the race no matter what to even have a shot at the title. Transcript of select questions: What are your thoughts going into Road Atlanta? “I think it’s a track and a race that we like. We’ve done well there over the last few years and particularly last year. So, we’re pretty confident we can come in and have a decent car off the bat. My goal is to try and have a great qualifying. And hopefully that means that we could go into the race worry-free and just enjoy it and race for the win. If we’re going in and we still have a similar gap in the championship, then we need to be a little bit smarter. But it’s nothing that we haven’t been doing all year long anyway. Like I said, we’ve got a good a good feel in the team right now and I’ve got a lot of trust in people around me, so very happy to just go in and treat it like any of the races that we’ve been to this year and come out with very good results.” |
| Some folks say that you and Cadillac Whelen (Action Express Racing) should pay a little more attention to collecting points instead of moving up the podium. And the way Action Express attacked it at Road America, and also at Indy, that’s not the case. So, I think the fans would all like to see everyone out there racing as hard as they can. What do you have to say to the people that suggest that maybe you should pay a little bit more attention to the points rather than moving up the podium?“I like to keep a very simplistic view of it, because it makes my life easier. I feel like I’m a broken record, but we’ve done a very good job over the last year, I think. Both in terms of putting a fast car out there and having pretty clean, efficient, well-called races and we do that by weighing up risk by planning out and prepping a lot of the stuff that we do and every professional, whether it’s the guys making the calls on the pit wall, or me or Earl or Fred in the car, put a lot of effort into trying to calibrate that risk reward level and kind of get it right. And all that to say, we feel like we live in a pretty happy spot and go for the moves that we think are, are going to pay off and work well for us. That’s about as far as we think about it. You can always argue to play it a bit safer when you have a lead in the championship. But it’s also dangerous to start changing your methods and to change the way that you approach things, because when you’re in a groove and when things are working well, you want to keep it as similar as possible. So to people that question, that method, is really more that we want to keep doing what we’re doing and the way we’re doing it because it works well for us and it’s to change as little as possible. And it’s also more fun to race that way. I think it’s more ambitious. It’s as simple as that from our point of view. I’m not saying it’s absolutely the right way to do it, but it’s the way that we like to go about it. It’s worked out well for the most part. The only race where we haven’t been on the podium. I don’t think it was because we were taking excessive risk, or anything like that. So, we’re going to carry that on into Petit Le Mans.” Does that mean we can anticipate you defending your Petit Le Mans title in the last hours in Road Atlanta? “That’s certainly the plan. But anything can happen at that race, and we’ve done well there over the years, so I think it’s a race that’s kind to us, whether it’s me or one of the other guys at the finish. So, we’re going to be racing for the win, I’m pretty sure.” |
| This championship is unique because both you and Laurin are not sharing it with any co-drivers. What are your thoughts on that? “I think it’s a bit of a shame. I mean it seems to be happening more often at the moment with drivers, generally being pulled in more directions, with more clashes between championships that are expanding and trying to fight for limited spots on the calendar. So, it’s slightly inevitable these days. But like I say, it’s a shame because, Earl is my full season teammate has been fantastic and has put more than his fair share into this championship. The fact that he misses one race and will pay for that by not being on the podium with me feels quite unfair, but it’s the way it is. And Fred has the endurance driver has contributed a huge amount as well. I sort of know from that position being I was in the endurance championship in 2023 when Whelen secured the teams and Drivers Championship then. I don’t know if there’s a way around it if there’ll be a way to have a drop round or something in the points to account for this kind of thing. But yeah, it does feel quite bittersweet. But I’ll buy him some drinks at the end of the year. Hopefully that evens it out.” Jack you are listed as being from both Great Britain and South Korea. Can you talk about the support you have gotten from the South Korean fans? “Yeah it’s been quite nice seeing the growth of, I guess South Korean interest and international motorsport. I think as a nation, there is quite a strong racing culture and car culture in general, but maybe not been as prevalent in the international championships until more recently and that growth has been really cool to watch and be a part of because I only really came into the sport in the last couple of decades obviously. The amount of messages of support and questions and interests that I get from South Koreans that are either looking to work in motorsport or drive or just support, it’s really cool. And yeah, I take a lot of heart from that. And even get a lot of people coming up to me and just saying hello and just expressing joy of, you know, discovering these championships and these cars and watching. So it means a lot to me. Yeah, I can’t wait. You know, it’s just really cool and I’m happy to see it. So hopefully it carries on growing and we’ve obviously got a South Korean manufacturer involved in these rule sets now as well, which is even better and yeah, it’s just really positive stuff and I’m happy to see it.” |
| Transcript of Jack Aitken, driver of the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R |
| DETROIT (Sept. 28, 2026) – Jack Aitken, driver of the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, was a guest on an IMSA media teleconference to discuss the upcoming 29th Annual Motul Petit Le Mans from the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia on October 3. Aitken will drive with Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti. Just one Cadillac needs to start the race for the brand to clinch their fifth IMSA manufacturer title since 2017 and their 11th overall. And when the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac starts the race, Action Express Racing will unofficially clinch the team title, which will be the seventh for the organization. (The car must pass tech post-race). Heading into Road Atlanta, Aitken needs to finish ninth or better in class to lock up the driver championship. But qualifying awards points, so depending on where Aitken qualifies as well as second-place Lauren Heinrich, the only driver that can catch Aitken, there is a chance he could clinch the title after Thursday qualifying. Heinrich must win the race no matter what to even have a shot at the title. Transcript of select questions: What are your thoughts going into Road Atlanta? “I think it’s a track and a race that we like. We’ve done well there over the last few years and particularly last year. So, we’re pretty confident we can come in and have a decent car off the bat. My goal is to try and have a great qualifying. And hopefully that means that we could go into the race worry-free and just enjoy it and race for the win. If we’re going in and we still have a similar gap in the championship, then we need to be a little bit smarter. But it’s nothing that we haven’t been doing all year long anyway. Like I said, we’ve got a good a good feel in the team right now and I’ve got a lot of trust in people around me, so very happy to just go in and treat it like any of the races that we’ve been to this year and come out with very good results.” |
| Some folks say that you and Cadillac Whelen (Action Express Racing) should pay a little more attention to collecting points instead of moving up the podium. And the way Action Express attacked it at Road America, and also at Indy, that’s not the case. So, I think the fans would all like to see everyone out there racing as hard as they can. What do you have to say to the people that suggest that maybe you should pay a little bit more attention to the points rather than moving up the podium?“I like to keep a very simplistic view of it, because it makes my life easier. I feel like I’m a broken record, but we’ve done a very good job over the last year, I think. Both in terms of putting a fast car out there and having pretty clean, efficient, well-called races and we do that by weighing up risk by planning out and prepping a lot of the stuff that we do and every professional, whether it’s the guys making the calls on the pit wall, or me or Earl or Fred in the car, put a lot of effort into trying to calibrate that risk reward level and kind of get it right. And all that to say, we feel like we live in a pretty happy spot and go for the moves that we think are, are going to pay off and work well for us. That’s about as far as we think about it. You can always argue to play it a bit safer when you have a lead in the championship. But it’s also dangerous to start changing your methods and to change the way that you approach things, because when you’re in a groove and when things are working well, you want to keep it as similar as possible. So to people that question, that method, is really more that we want to keep doing what we’re doing and the way we’re doing it because it works well for us and it’s to change as little as possible. And it’s also more fun to race that way. I think it’s more ambitious. It’s as simple as that from our point of view. I’m not saying it’s absolutely the right way to do it, but it’s the way that we like to go about it. It’s worked out well for the most part. The only race where we haven’t been on the podium. I don’t think it was because we were taking excessive risk, or anything like that. So, we’re going to carry that on into Petit Le Mans.” Does that mean we can anticipate you defending your Petit Le Mans title in the last hours in Road Atlanta? “That’s certainly the plan. But anything can happen at that race, and we’ve done well there over the years, so I think it’s a race that’s kind to us, whether it’s me or one of the other guys at the finish. So, we’re going to be racing for the win, I’m pretty sure.” |
| This championship is unique because both you and Laurin are not sharing it with any co-drivers. What are your thoughts on that? “I think it’s a bit of a shame. I mean it seems to be happening more often at the moment with drivers, generally being pulled in more directions, with more clashes between championships that are expanding and trying to fight for limited spots on the calendar. So, it’s slightly inevitable these days. But like I say, it’s a shame because, Earl is my full season teammate has been fantastic and has put more than his fair share into this championship. The fact that he misses one race and will pay for that by not being on the podium with me feels quite unfair, but it’s the way it is. And Fred has the endurance driver has contributed a huge amount as well. I sort of know from that position being I was in the endurance championship in 2023 when Whelen secured the teams and Drivers Championship then. I don’t know if there’s a way around it if there’ll be a way to have a drop round or something in the points to account for this kind of thing. But yeah, it does feel quite bittersweet. But I’ll buy him some drinks at the end of the year. Hopefully that evens it out.” Jack you are listed as being from both Great Britain and South Korea. Can you talk about the support you have gotten from the South Korean fans? “Yeah it’s been quite nice seeing the growth of, I guess South Korean interest and international motorsport. I think as a nation, there is quite a strong racing culture and car culture in general, but maybe not been as prevalent in the international championships until more recently and that growth has been really cool to watch and be a part of because I only really came into the sport in the last couple of decades obviously. The amount of messages of support and questions and interests that I get from South Koreans that are either looking to work in motorsport or drive or just support, it’s really cool. And yeah, I take a lot of heart from that. And even get a lot of people coming up to me and just saying hello and just expressing joy of, you know, discovering these championships and these cars and watching. So it means a lot to me. Yeah, I can’t wait. You know, it’s just really cool and I’m happy to see it. So hopefully it carries on growing and we’ve obviously got a South Korean manufacturer involved in these rule sets now as well, which is even better and yeah, it’s just really positive stuff and I’m happy to see it.” |