Bamber: JOTA ‘bringing a new energy to Cadillac’
As the freshly-formed Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA intensifies its preparations for the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship, Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn – who have piloted the V-Series.R for the past two seasons – are bullish about the squad’s prospects.
Bamber and Lynn were joined by team-mates Sébastien Bourdais, Jenson Button, Norman Nato and Will Stevens earlier this month, for the first full-scale test under the new banner at the Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France. The three days on-track offered an opportunity for both sides of the alliance to get to know one another and begin working together – and Bamber was impressed by what he saw.
“I think JOTA is bringing a new energy to the Cadillac project,” the New Zealander enthused. “They have a lot of knowledge and they know how to win races. We’d like another ten days of testing before we get to Qatar, but we’re limited, so this is the first big block to gain information to then head into the short Christmas break, do our homework and go to the next test.”
“It’s been a cool start with JOTA,” echoed Lynn, who qualified the V-Series.R on pole position for the 6 Hours of Fuji in September. “With what they’ve achieved, the team’s prestige speaks for itself. Having driven this car for the last two years, we are excited to see what JOTA can do with it and our experience and knowledge will hopefully fast-track the learning period. The motivation to succeed is already off the scale!”
Indeed, both Cadillac Racing and Hertz Team JOTA enjoyed a strong end to the 2024 FIA WEC campaign – the American manufacturer narrowly missing out on a podium finish in Texas and placing sixth in Bahrain, where the independent British outfit was in the mix for overall victory as it buttoned up the top two spots in the final FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams classification.
“I think 2024 was a good learning year for everybody,” mused Stevens, one of the undisputed stars of the show in the season finale. “We had a lot of potential. We definitely should have finished higher up in the championship than we did, but it’s encouraging that we could fight with the manufacturers even as a privateer. That gives us a lot of confidence going into 2025 with a manufacturer behind us in Cadillac.
“Obviously, the responsibilities and the programme as a whole are much bigger now. We have a responsibility to develop the car, identify the areas we need to work on, carry on from where they were fast in 2024 and try to improve the package. I think all the ingredients are there between Cadillac and JOTA to forge a very successful partnership.”
Bamber, Lynn and Stevens will warm up for the forthcoming FIA WEC campaign with an outing in the V-Series.R in next month’s Rolex 24 At Daytona – the opening round of North America’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
