Bamber, Aitken Head to Indy Riding Momentum
Photo: Jake Galstad/Lumen Digital Agency/IMSA
By Dennis Krause
Earl Bamber and Jack Aitken may have had their nearly one-year podium streak snapped at Elkhart Lake’s Road America last month, but the drivers of the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R roll into this weekend’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with momentum anyway.
“Yeah, looking forward to getting back into the battle of it,” Bamber commented. “We had an amazing run on the podium nearly for one year straight with the IMSA calendar, so it's been an amazing job by the by the Whelen Cadillac team. Obviously, the last race didn't really go the way we'd planned it or expected it, but we were still in the fight to win the race at one stage at the end there and then obviously to be on the podium again. So yeah, looking forward to sort of more success like we had at Indy. Indy's typically been always pretty strong track for the No. 31 car as well so looking forward to that.
“Jack (Aitken) and myself are also coming off the back of a really good weekend with second at the World Endurance Championship (WEC) race at COTA (Circuit of the Americas). So there's just really good momentum in the program at the moment and obviously the 31 didn't win but the No. 10 car (Wayne Taylor Racing with drivers Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor) got its first win with Cadillac. So yeah, just really great momentum in the program.”
Aitken leads the driver championship standings in Grand Touring Prototype by 118 points over Porsche’s Laurin Heinrich. In the manufacturer standings, the Whelen Cadillac enjoys a 185-point lead over the No. 93 Acura of Meyer Shank Racing.
Now that Bamber and Aitken are the hunted compared to last year when they had nothing to lose, the defending winners enter the 2-hour-40-minute race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s infield road course with the same attitude as last season when they won the 6-hour edition.
Photo: Brandon Badraoui/Lumen Digital Agency/IMSA
“We were talking about that on the weekend at COTA,” Bamber said, “and to be honest, we've just been going about the same thing race after race, which is trying to execute these races well. Generally, we've had a really quick Cadillac, so it's about execution. It’s worked for the most part, and we're probably just not going to change anything. I feel when you try to go on the defense, it normally works worse. So, I think we're just going to keep with our same tactic and strategy, and hopefully it still ends up in the same spot, and we can collect some good points and enter (Michelin Raceway Road) Atlanta with a good buffer.”
As far as coming into Indy with a more conservative approach, Bamber says that really won’t be the case.
“It's going to be business as usual. I don't think we really need to change a good thing. We've been executing some really good races. We had a good look at Road America. I don't think we have the outright fastest car like we had at Detroit or Watkins Glen. But, we still put ourselves in a position to be in the top three there at the end of the race. So that's what we're going to try and do again. I think what's been really working well is the sharing that goes along between the 10 and the 40, and then also the 12 and the 38 in WEC, and just trying to bring the whole program up to the front has been a big help for everyone all around.”
Contributing to the strong year the No. 31 car has had, as well as the Nos. 10 and 40 with Wayne Taylor Racing, and the JOTA team in WEC, has been an EVO update to the V-Series.R. The update has definitely made the Cadillac more consistent and effective in 2026.
“Yeah, when we were doing the EVO we were really targeting the race ability aspect and that was definitely achieved through being able to follow in traffic, and also, typically, we were quite a lot more draggy especially in the WEC compared to the other cars,” Bamber explained. “So, with that, we've got what we need on the straight, a bit less drag, and we're able to follow close in the corners, which has just allowed us more opportunity to overtake in races at the right moments. It's also helped us with GT traffic, and that was sort of the main component.
“The other upgrade we did was changing brake manufacturer to Brembo, which is closer to what we run on the road car side as well, and that's just made the whole thing a lot more consistent and easier to manage at the races as well. So it's not about peak performance, but probably global consistency more than anything.”
Photo: Jake Galstad/Lumen Digital Agency/IMSA
After Road America, there was talk that IMSA officials will be taking a harder line when it comes to aggressive driving. According to Bamber, that won’t change much for the No. 31 team.
“Yeah, we’ve sort of steered clear of the powers that be, so we don't really need to change much on our side. But, yeah, it'll be interesting to see the level of aggression of the field when it all rolls out on Sunday.”
It was a late race incident between Aitken and Kevin Estre in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 that really grabbed IMSA’s attention. Since then, Estre has been put on probation. Meanwhile, Heinrich has been drafted back into the Porsche Penske team after being on loan to the JDC-Miller Porsche squad as he looks to win a driver’s title.
“It will be interesting to see the level of aggression,” Bamber noted. “Kevin (Estre) has been doing those sorts of moves for a long time and getting away with it, and this year's been a year that he hasn't really got away with it at many of the races. So it will be interesting to see his approach, and it was a shame for the 31 guys and for Jack, because he just placed himself in a spot where he deserved racing room and just got driven off the track and straight. It's good that IMSA put a foot down to it but like I said, it's going to be interesting just to see that whole title fight. It's going to be aggressive between Laurin and the 6 car and us, because obviously, they need to make up some points, so it's going to be spicy for sure at some stage.”
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute.