Nelson: AXR Stood Down from Le Mans Entry to Focus on IMSA

Photo: Fabrizio Boldoni/DPPI

Action Express Racing elected not to pursue an entry request for the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year in order to focus on its IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship program according to team manager Gary Nelson.

The five-time WeatherTech Championship title-winning squad, which has contested the French endurance classic since the debut of the LMDh platform in 2023, chose to stand down from this year’s race, as Nelson believes its previous participations in the twice-around-the-clock enduro compromised its GTP efforts Stateside.

While having won the 2023 IMSA GTP championship with Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims, the team had a winless 2024 campaign and only returned to victory lane in last September’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which was quickly backed up with a win in the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

“We’ve gone [to Le Mans] three years in a row,” Nelson told Sportscar365. “You may say some of our toughest IMSA seasons have been those three years.

“I think it makes sense to us to try and concentrate on our IMSA program and see if we could build it up.

“After that conversation last summer, then we went on to win the last couple of races and then ran good in Daytona this year.

“I think the focus is already showing that we’re focused on the IMSA program.”

Nelson also pointed out the logistics involved for the single-car team amid a busy month of June that includes two WeatherTech Championship races, which played a factor in its decision to sit out this year’s race.

“To race Detroit, jump on a plane and ship our spare parts with overnight freight and get to Le Mans and spend more than two weeks there, then jump on a plane from France and go to Watkins Glen and bring all of our spares back to the U.S., that was quite a distraction for us,” he explained.

“This year would have been a little bit less pressure because there’s a week before the Le Mans race at Watkins Glen but we didn’t know it at the time it would be that way.”

While fellow Cadillac entrant Wayne Taylor Racing will still fly the American and IMSA flags in France this year, Nelson indicated that Action Express could be prepared to return to Le Mans by as early as next year’s edition.

“We’re definitely looking it as a ’26, checking all of the boxes on preparation and speed and logistics that we do all focused on IMSA and make sure we’ve got that one,” he said.

“Then we’ll start looking at Le Mans. We’re definitely not ruling it out. We’d like to do it again in ’27.”

Both of its full-time WeatherTech Championship drivers, Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber, will be part of Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA’s lineups for Le Mans, which also would have left the team with only Fred Vesti available to race this year.

While only Bamber was with the JOTA squad full-time last year, Aitken replaces the since-retired Jenson Button in Cadillac’s full-time WEC Hypercar lineup.

Nelson referenced Bamber to being a full season JOTA driver on loan to AXR for the non-conflicting WeatherTech Championship races, with Aitken being a full-time Action Express driver on loan to the British squad.

As previously confirmed, Aitken will contest the full WeatherTech Championship season in the team’s No. 31 Whelen-sponsored Cadillac V-Series.R, with third driver Vesti filling in for Bamber at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the only conflicting GTP round with the WEC this year.

Nelson reiterated plans for Vesti, who has recently been promoted to Mercedes-AMG F1’s third driver role, will still contest the full Michelin Endurance Cup with the team as previously announced.

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