Aitken: Continuity With Bamber a “Benefit” in Dual Program

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Jack Aitken believes having Earl Bamber as his co-driver in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship next year will serve as a benefit, especially as he comes to grips with full-time Hypercar competition.

Aitken, who will join Hertz Team JOTA’s factory Cadillac effort in the WEC alongside continuing with Action Express Racing in the WeatherTech Championship’s GTP class, will have a common link in two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Bamber, who will have a nearly identical program.

Both will share the wheel of Cadillac V-Series.Rs in all but one race weekend next year, when Aitken will be in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach alongside Frederik Vesti in the Action Express entry, and Bamber with JOTA and Sebastien Bourdais for the 6 Hours of Imola.

It is the only clashing weekend between the top classes of the WeatherTech Championship and WEC in 2026.

“It’s exciting on a number of fronts because I get to have a lot of continuity with Earl as my teammate,” said Aitken

“We had a great year this year in IMSA together. He’s already been doing this double program and has shown a lot of the benefits for the program as a whole.

“To jump in that boat with him and to share that experience would be really cool.

“JOTA is a team that I’ve come close to driving for but has never happened for one reason or another.

“To finally get that done and really experience how they operate will be really, really nice.”

While placing Aitken in JOTA’s No. 12 Cadillac lineup would have allowed both he and Bamber to contest a full season in the WeatherTech Championship, Aitken indicated that keeping the driver continuity in the second JOTA entry was important.

The No. 12 entry of Alex Lynn, Will Stevens and Norman Nato, which won the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, was the only WEC Hypercar entry to score points in every race this past season.

“It certainly would have in some ways,” said Aitken. “I think there are pros and cons. The pro is that Earl and I know each other really well now.

“I know the guys on the 12 car as well but they’ve bene operating really well as a group this year in WEC and have had great results.

“So I think rather than split up what they’ve got going on, it also makes sense to integrate with Earl ad slip in with the 38 where it will be a bit of a smoother transition for me.

“I think it makes sense.”

When asked what he’s looking forward to most in his first WEC campaign, Aitken said it will be heading to Le Mans with a full-season program, which has proven to have its benefits over one-off Le Mans entries.

“I’ve never driven WEC before as a proper world championship,” he said. “To represent Cadillac on that stage would be really cool.

“I’m going to get to go to some tracks that I haven’t been to before.

“To arrive at Le Mans as part of a full season package will be a different experience for me as well. I’ve personally never done that so that will be exciting as well.”

Aitken had his first experience working with the Sam Hignett co-owned JOTA crew in the recent WEC Bahrain rookie test, where he and fellow Cadillac factory driver Ricky Taylor took part.

“The first day that we did in Bahrain was a nice experience, good to get to know the people there, and everything went fairly smoothly,” said Aitken.

“It’s going to be a really full year of racing with Cadillac. I’m really pleased that I’m going to get double the driving time, basically.”

Aitken’s placement with JOTA means that Action Express would need to fill two seats, alongside Vesti, should it receive an invite to Le Mans next year.

Felipe Drugovich filled in for Bamber in the No. 311 Cadillac in the French endurance classic this year, with the Brazilian having recently announced a Formula E program with Andretti Global.

Formula E does not clash with either the Le Mans Test day or race next year.

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