Aitken Credits “Flexibility” of Three-Driver Squad for Indy Win

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Jack Aitken credited the “flexibility” of Action Express Racing’s three-driver squad as being a key to victory in Sunday’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Aitken and co-drivers Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti gave Cadillac its long-awaited first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory of the season, while also snapping a 23-race winless streak for the Gary Nelson and Chris Mitchum-led team dating back to the 2023 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

It came in a commanding run for the Whelen-sponsored Cadillac V-Series.R, which led for 210 of the 243 laps.

The No. 31 crew was one of only two three-driver lineups in GTP for the Michelin Endurance Cup round, which saw third driver Vesti lead the No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 of Kaku Ohta, the only other driver trio in class, in a 1-2 run through the middle stages of the six-hour contest.

“It’s a bit of a relief to get the first one under the belt for the year,” said Aitken.

“I think we had a really awesome car today that was working well also in qualifying, and we were a little bit fortunate that the 60 [car] had trouble in qually to take the pole.

“But I think with the number of laps that we led today, it shows how well we were working as a team, and it was nice having the flexibility of three drivers.

“It was quite a hard day out, I think, with some extended runs of green.

“I think it was really fun race at the end, really tough, but had a lot of fun trying to hit the number and hold the track position at the same time.”

Aitken said he felt the Cadillac performed well with the Michelin Hard tire compound than rivals Acura, which topped the time charts in every session leading up to the six-hour contest.

“I think we’ve shown in the past that we can be quite strong over a stint and take care of the tire and hold it in that nice operating window in terms of temperature,” he said.

“The Hard is a particularly tricky one with the warm-up, but also there is a potential to use it up and to soften at the end of the stint.

“There’s a lot of pickup, a lot of marbles and a lot of rubbish you have to deal with. So it’s not an easy tire to hold in that sweet spot, and I think the Caddy does a better job of it than the Acura.

“Generally when I was around those guys, it seemed like we had the better of them in the more technical sections. That definitely helped us in the end.”

Aitken had to contend with a hard-charging Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, as well as Tom Blomqvist’s No. 60 MSR Acura in the closing stages, although Taylor was due to make a stop for energy had the race not featured the late-race yellow.

“The race had changed quite a bit in the last 15, 20 minutes because of the 10 [car] coming through and offering their support,” he said.

“They charged through very quickly, and up to that time I was in quite an intense battle both to hit a fuel number and also to keep first the BMW and then the Acura behind, and that was taking a lot of energy and focus, and then to have another Caddy up there was quite a relief.

“But then it did turn into a bit of a shootout at the end, and fuel obviously then was good to go for the end.

“I think we were going to make it, but it changed the dynamic into a bit of a last-lap shootout.

“Thankfully everything went supremely for the last two laps, but it was just about refocusing and gearing up for full push instead of lifting off halfway down the straight.”

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