Indianapolis Result Puts Aitken in “Strong Position” for GTP Title

Photo: Cadillac

Jack Aitken said his runner-up finish in Sunday’s TireRack Battle on the Bricks puts him in a “strong position” for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP title with one race to go.

However, the Englishman stressed that he’s not going to “count our chickens” until being in a position to officially lock up the title at next weekend’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans.

Aitken and Action Express Racing co-driver Earl Bamber missed out on victory following a late-race move by Sheldon van der Linde on the Kiwi for Team WRT’s maiden win in series competition.

With his seventh podium result in eight races, and crucially finishing ahead of title rival Laurin Heinrich, Aitken extended his championship lead to 147 points over the Porsche factory driver.

It means the No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R would need to finish ninth or higher in the ten-hour enduro at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, or potentially just start the race if there’s a large enough buffer in qualifying, to claim his first GTP drivers’ title.

“The goal coming into today was to win the race and try to get as many points as we could,” said Aitken. “There were still a lot of permutations for the championship, certainly before the start [of the race].

“We [were hoping] to make life as easy as possible for ourselves by taking what was a pretty fast race car with the Whelen Cadillac and just trying to get as high up as we could.

“I think we executed pretty well today. We had some pretty fast competitors and even through the first stint when we were leading, you can see the field was building into it and there was a bit of fuel save going on.

“Things were looking good but the BMWs were extremely quick today. I didn’t envy Earl for trying to hold them off for as long as he did.

“It takes us to Petit in a very strong position. It’s another podium in what’s been a really good year so far.”

Despite being in a favorable position, Aitken stressed the job still isn’t fully complete.

“We’re definitely not going to count our chickens,” he said “It’s a race we’ve done well at in the years gone by. I think we’ll have a strong car or at least be in the mix.

“It’s been very tight over the last few races. I know we’ve managed to be very consistent, but quite frankly, our competitors have always come up and challenged us in terms of pace.

“We just have to go in with the same mindset and keep our nose clean. I think we’ll be competitive enough that we can be at the sharp end.”

Bamber admitted he didn’t race van der Linde as hard as he normally would have, given the championship implications for his co-driver.

Sunday’s finish, meanwhile, has virtually wrapped up the GTP manufacturers’ title to Cadillac and the teams’ championship to Action Express.

With a 136-point lead, only a single Cadillac needs to start Petit Le Mans to win the championship, while the Gary Nelson-led operation, which has a 271-point lead in the teams’ title race, would also lock things up by rolling off the grid next Saturday.

“Sheldon did a really good move into Turn 12,” said Bamber. “We also have to remember that we’re in the championship. I think if it was another day we’d be fighting a little bit harder.

“But we had one key goal today, which was to try and clinch the manufacturers’ [championship] and we just had to beat Porsche to do that.

“That’s a massive thing for Cadillac, and also for the teams’ championship. Now we just have to tick one more box for Jack.”

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