Action Express Ramping Up for Le Mans Return

Photo: Fabrizio Boldoni/DPPI

Action Express Racing is ramping up preparations for its return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans according to team manager Gary Nelson, who felt like taking a year off from the race will play to its benefit.

The factory Cadillac LMDh squad, which secured the auto invite to next year’s French endurance classic after winning this year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP title, has been working in the background in recent months according to Nelson.

“We’ve been keeping a little bit of action going towards Le Mans,” he told Sportscar365. “We went there this year to make sure we were current.

“We sent our guys to COTA to make sure they’re current. We’ve got Jack and Earl doing the WEC, coming back and telling us this is how they officiate this and that.

“We’re on top of it.”

The team, which made three consecutive Le Mans starts from 2023-25, sat out this year’s edition on its own choice in order to focus its efforts entirely on the WeatherTech Championship.

“I actually asked for the year off,” said Nelson. “We went to Le Mans three years in a row and came back with really nothing.

“In those three years, we had our worst three IMSA years.

“I just asked to just figure out IMSA in 2026 and then let’s go back to Le Mans in 2027, so we can be thinking about Le Mans and doing small things, building up to Le Mans while we’re focused on IMSA.

“What happens when you’re going to Le Mans is that really most of your work is done right around the beginning of March because your shipping container has got to leave right after the Sebring race.

“Now we’ve got our container organized, we’ve got all this stuff ready and we’ll do some more work during this off season.

“I think we’ve been able to chip away at Le Mans without taking our focus off IMSA this year.

Nelson revealed that they’ve had personnel dedicated to Le Mans prep, in order not to distract its WeatherTech Championship season.

“At the beginning of this year, all of our people were 90 percent [focused] on IMSA and then all the other distractions that come up,” he said.

“As the year went along… We’ve got a couple of guys that are almost 100 percent [focused] on Le Mans now.

“We’ve phased it where in the past we just said, ‘Oh another race that happens to be in France, let’s go!’

“‘Well wait, we’ve got to do all of this. There’s a ton of paperwork that goes on just to get your entry, your shipping, your bill of laden, and the translation between French and English.

“We’ve made plenty of those mistakes the first few years. This year we’ve got a very solid racing-oriented interpreter working for us.

“I think we’ve learned a lot and we’re looking forward to it.”

Nelson wouldn’t be drawn to the team’s driver lineup, given that both Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber will be unavailable due to their full season FIA World Endurance Championship program with Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA.

However, it’s almost certain that AXR’s now-full-time driver Frederik Vesti will be in the car.

“We’ll announce our driver lineup when the time comes,” he said.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John