Aitken to Replace Doohan at Nielsen for Silverstone

Cadillac factory driver Jack Aitken has received a late call-up to contest this weekend’s 4 Hours of Silverstone European Le Mans Series round with Nielsen Racing in place of Jack Doohan.

Aitken, who drives a Cadillac V-Series.R in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship for the Action Express Racing and Hertz Team JOTA squads in the respective series, will make his first appearance in the ELMS since he finished fifth in the overall standings for TF Sport in 2022.

That year’s ELMS campaign also represents the most recent time Aitken has competed in LMP2 machinery as he subsequently graduated to GTP/Hypercar with Cadillac for 2023.

He will now partner Roy Nissany and Edward Pearson in the No. 24 Nielsen Racing Oreca 07 Gibson at Silverstone with the team stating that Haas Formula 1 reserve driver Doohan will no longer be able to contest the final two rounds of the campaign.

“Changes in his calendar mean he is now unavailable for the last two rounds,” read a team statement about Doohan’s absence, which added that it “been a blast” having him part of the squad.

Doohan, Nissany and Pearson had taken a best result of fifth at Imola from the opening four events of the campaign.

Aitken is not the only British driver to have secured a late place on the ELMS grid for their home round as Ben Barnicoat will also return to the series for the first time since 2023, when he was a race winner with AF Corse.

He will take the place of Tristan Vautier at the wheel of the No. 25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca, sharing with Jake Hughes and Matthias Kaiser.