Jack Aitken says forecasting the frontrunners for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans is more challenging than ever, thanks to a flood of refreshed Hypercars that the FIA World Endurance Championship introduced for the season.
The American marque is among several teams to have rolled out Evo updates to their machines, while other manufacturers conducted subtle overhauls during the winter as the Hypercar entries were re-homologated following runs through Windshear, the wind tunnel facility in Concord, North Carolina.
Aitken, a Cadillac V-Series.R pilot competing in both the WEC and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and fresh from winning last weekend’s Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic, notes that these updates together with the new Michelin Pilot Sport Endurance tires for this year make predicting outcomes particularly difficult.
“So far this year, both in IMSA and in WEC, when I head into race weekends I find myself thinking, ‘We might have a real chance here this week,’ or, alternatively, ‘Perhaps this will be a struggle for us,’ and I’ve been proven entirely wrong as soon as practice begins,” he told Sportscar365.
“It demonstrates that with many manufacturers bringing Evo updates to their cars, the balance of performance has shifted somewhat, the cars don’t exhibit the same strengths and weaknesses as before, and they don’t suit the same circuits, which makes predicting quite tricky.”
“That’s why I’m approaching Le Mans with a degree of caution because this year’s favorites may not be the same as in previous years, and even the form guidance we’ve seen, for example at Spa, might not translate to Le Mans.”
Despite the uncertainties surrounding the order of merit, Aitken believes the Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA squad is in a “good position” for Le Mans after Alex Lynn topped the times in qualifying to deliver a 1-2 for the team last year.
The squad completed a two-day test at Silverstone last month to finalize preparations, including honing the precise setups required for the car ahead of the race.
“I have a lot of faith in the people within this team, at Cadillac, and at GM who have put in a tremendous amount of work to bring the car to its current state,” he said.
“We’ve shown strength in the past, so the potential is there and the foundation is solid, but we really need to observe how practice unfolds and, in the opening hours of the race itself, that’s usually when the picture becomes clearer.”
“Historically, Cadillac has performed reasonably well at Le Mans, but we’ve seldom managed to place ourselves squarely in contention for the top prize, something we’re clearly keen to change.”
Aitken believes the updated V-Series.R this year, with a focus on improving driveability, will aid the effort to secure a strong result at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
“Its ability to manage the dirty air behind other cars is something we’ve improved, so that’s all made it a more raceable car and hopefully qualifying doesn’t have to be such a focus for us and we can move forward in the race as well,” he said.
