Cadillac and JOTA unveil their Hypercar for the 2026 season

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA presented a heavily modified version of the V-Series.R for the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship season and brought in Jack Aitken as a replacement for Jenson Button, who retired at the end of the last campaign. Both decisions respond to a declared objective: to fight for the world title.

A practically new car

Sam Hignett, co-founder and director of JOTA, revealed during a pre-season event at the Royal Automobile Club in London that the aerodynamic update for the V-Series.R was so extensive that "literally only the monocoque" remains from the 2025 model.

The most visible changes include the removal of front dive planes and fins, along with a redesigned rear wing profile, all aimed at improving efficiency, driveability, and behavior in traffic, which were the three areas where the car had the most limitations during 2025.

Photo By WEC

The color scheme remains practically identical to last season's.

The updated version of the V-Series.R has already competed, and the #31 Action Express Racing car, with Aitken and Bamber among its drivers, finished second at the 2026 24 Hours of Daytona, just 1.5 seconds behind the winning Porsche 963 and ahead of the BMW M Hybrid V8.

Qualifying pace was never lacking, with three pole positions throughout the season, including one at Le Mans that was the first for an American manufacturer at La Sarthe in nearly six decades. What was missing was translating that pace into consistent results on Sundays, something that the 158 points in the constructors' championship and the 87-point gap to Ferrari (245) clearly highlight.

"We knew the car's strength was its single-lap pace," Hignett acknowledged. "We capitalized on that whenever we could, but we need greater consistency if we want to mount a real fight for the championship."

Aitken joins the team

Aitken arrives in the #38 car alongside Earl Bamber and Sébastien Bourdais with two full seasons developing the V-Series.R in race conditions with Action Express Racing in IMSA, where he finished as vice-champion in the GTP class in 2025 with 2720 points, just behind the duo of Campbell-Jaminet (2907), and closed that campaign with consecutive victories at Indianapolis and Road Atlanta.

Aitken will also maintain his full schedule in IMSA 2026 with Action Express Racing, where he will continue sharing the #31 V-Series.R with Bamber. Racing in both series with the same car gives him a perspective that few WEC drivers will have, and the IMSA calendar plays in his favor because he will have been through Daytona and Sebring, including running the new mandatory Michelin tires for all Hypercars, before JOTA even arrives in Qatar for the season opener.

"I've never competed in WEC and I've never raced with JOTA, although we've been close on several occasions," said Aitken, who participated in the Bahrain rookie test at the end of the 2025 season. "I'm excited to apply what I've learned in IMSA to help drive the development of the program."

David Clark, director of JOTA Sport, was straightforward in explaining the choice. "Six individual stars don't win endurance races, but six drivers working as one can."

The #12 crew repeats lineup

The #12 lineup remains intact with Alex Lynn, Norman Nato, and Will Stevens, the only crew that scored points in all eight rounds of WEC 2025. That trio won at São Paulo, Cadillac's first victory in the championship, and led a 1-2 finish with the #38 car, which remains the manufacturer's best collective result in the series.

Lynn, who secured two of Cadillac's three poles in 2025, spoke with a confidence that would have been unthinkable just 18 months ago, when the program was still searching for its first Hypercar podium.

"It was a much better start than I had anticipated," he said. "From the very first race, the car's performance was surprising. From that starting point to where we are now, we can start thinking about everything. Before, dreaming of winning a single race was already a lot. Now we arrive at each weekend thinking we can win. That change in mindset is huge."

What Cadillac needs to fight at the front

The #12 car finished fifth in the 2025 drivers' championship with an inconsistent campaign. It won in São Paulo but dropped to tenth at Imola and eighth in Qatar and COTA. That inconsistency, more than a lack of speed, explains the 87-point gap to Ferrari in the constructors' standings.

The aerodynamic redesign and the new Michelin tires, which all Hypercars will debut in 2026, are the two variables that could change that equation. No team has an accumulated advantage with the new rubber, and a car that performs better in long races should avoid those drops to the back of the top 10 that cost them last season.

The question is whether the eight rounds of 2026 will confirm what São Paulo hinted at or if that was the exception.