Whelen Cadillac Finds Way Back to Victory Lane in Indianapolis Thriller
September 21, 2025
SEPTEMBER 21, 2025
TDS Delivers an Indianapolis Triple in LMP2
By John Oreovicz
INDIANAPOLIS – Cadillac’s three-car Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) attack showed strongly in qualifying for the TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
But it looked even better in the race.
On Sunday, Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber, and Frederik Vesti combined to lead 210 of 243 laps in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R at IMS to dominate the penultimate round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. They won the six-hour contest that also counts toward the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup by 0.988 of a second over Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 10 Cadillac fielded by Wayne Taylor Racing, with Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun rallying to earn third place in the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06.
Blomqvist appeared to have claimed the Motul Pole Award on Saturday, only for the No. 60 Acura to be sent to the back of the GTP field for a technical infraction found in post-qualifying inspection. That opened the door for the No. 31 Cadillac, which Aitken qualified second fastest just 0.041 of a second off the disallowed pole time.
Aitken led from the start, but when the second caution flew just 12 minutes into the race, the Cadillac Whelen team called him into the pits, triggering a energy management strategy battle between the dozen GTP class competitors. The constant throughout the remainder of the race was the speed and consistency of the No. 31 car, which was one of just two entries utilizing a three-driver lineup for the six-hour endurance race.
After thinking his driving was done, Aitken unexpectedly found himself called upon to finish the race. While attempting to conserve energy during the last hour, he held off a charging Blomqvist until Taylor moved the No. 10 Cadillac into second place with 16 minutes left on the clock.
Taylor and Albuquerque were forced into an alternate pit stop sequence when Albuquerque suffered a punctured tire at the halfway point of the race, putting them a lap down. They short-filled several times as they threw out all the stops to regain and remain on the lead lap.
A crash involving Toby Sowery in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA LMP2 07 with less than 10 minutes remaining brought out the seventh and final caution of the race and ensured Taylor had enough energy to make the finish. He and Albuquerque matched their best finish of the season with second place as Cadillacs led all but seven laps on the day.
It was the second IMSA win for the Cadillac Whelen team at Indianapolis (from a total of 30) and its first since the 2023 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. It’s also the team’s first podium since finishing second at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in May 2024. Bamber now owns nine victories in IMSA competition; Aitken has triumphed twice, while this was the first time Vesti reached IMSA’s victory lane.
“It’s a bit of a relief to get the first win of the year under the belt,” said Aitken. “We were a little bit fortunate to get the pole after the No. 60 Acura had trouble, but I think the number of laps we led today shows how well we were working as a team.
“It was a really fun race at the end,” he continued. “Really tough, but a lot of fun trying to hit the (energy) number and hold the track position at the same time.”
The No. 10 Cadillac duo were pleased to come away with a podium finish after a tenacious comeback drive.
“We were last at the restart (with an hour left in the race), so figured we may as well try something,” Taylor said. “That was kind of fun, to try and move forward, and then that yellow at the end gave us the fuel we needed to make the finish. We gave ourselves our best shot.”
“That was frustrating because the pace was good,” added Albuquerque. “We were lucky that a yellow came at the right time, because we were able to secure second place.”
None of the Cadillac teams are in contention for the GTP championship, so Sunday’s victory was the brightest moment of the year to date for the American marque.
“We had really high hopes at the start of the season,” Bamber said. “We’ve had a lot of good cars, but things really haven’t gone our way. We’ve been working day in and day out to get this win, so it’s really nice to be back on the top step of the podium. We feel like we’ve got really good momentum and are laying a great foundation now.”
It was a subdued day for the three GTP title protagonists. Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963) posted the fastest lap in the race but finished seventh and will take a 131-point lead over their Porsche Penske Motorsport teammates Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy (who finished 12th) into the season finale. Defending Indianapolis winner Philipp Eng and his 2025 teammate Dries Vanthoor (No. 24 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V-8) are 145 back.
