Looking back on a hard-fought IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship campaign, Earl Bamber sees a season defined not by individual standings, but by the relentless pursuit of team success. While a schedule conflict ultimately kept him from raising the drivers’ trophy alongside co-driver Jack Aitken, Bamber was the indisputable anchor behind Action Express Racing’s title-winning #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R program.
The season culminated in a dominant clean sweep for the brand, as Cadillac captured the GTP Manufacturer, Team, and Driver championships. Although Cadillac did not take the overall race victory in the season finale at Petit Le Mans, they did enough to secure the brand’s 11th IMSA Manufacturer title – and its fifth since 2017. The foundation for that sweep was largely laid at Michelin Raceway Road America, where a masterclass performance by Bamber and Aitken put the championship out of reach for the competition, leaving Aitken needing only to green-flag the finale to officially secure his first career GTP crown.
Because Bamber missed the Long Beach round due to a conflict with the FIA World Endurance Championship – where endurance co-driver Frederik Vesti stepped in to secure a crucial runner-up finish – Bamber ended up fourth in the final drivers’ standings while Aitken took the crown solo. Regardless of the outcome, Bamber carried a deep sense of personal responsibility across every stint he drove to ensure the team got the job done.
“I’m just really proud of what we’ve achieved,” Bamber said. “Like joining the program at the very beginning, first time to drive the car on a roll-out, and now to be winning all these championships. To get Jack his first championship, ’cause I missed that one race, every single time you’re in the car, you’re feeling that weight on the shoulders because you missed one race, so you want to get it done for him and the whole team. It was really nice to get that.”
For Bamber, any immediate disappointment from coming up short in the finale quickly yields to the bigger global picture for Cadillac and General Motors.
“But yeah, we were trying to fight for third (on Saturday night), but it didn’t quite go our way. Sometimes that happens. We’ve also got a bigger picture. We’re on the global stage as well with the global championship. There’s still a lot of boxes to be ticked.”
#31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R: Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber, Frederik Vesti
Photo by: Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images
Bamber briefly looked back on the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where he, Aitken, and endurance add-on Sebastien Bourdais were dominant until a power steering issue proved terminal after 218 of 381 laps. Both Cadillac entries combined to lead 178 laps.
“We want to get that first Le Mans win,” Bamber said. “We were really, really strong this year. I think we could all taste it. What’s amazing, everyone at Cadillac, Corvette, GM, everyone’s racers from the very top to everyone in the program, right? We all want to go get wins. That makes it special to go racing with these guys. We didn’t win tonight. I’m sure everyone is thinking how we’re going to go win the next one. That’s what makes this group special.”
When reminded of Aitken’s lighthearted remark about owing his co-driver a beer for holding down the championship push, Bamber turned the banter toward a piece of unfinished business. Not only for Le Mans, but also at the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, the #31 crew suffered an agonizingly close second-place finish when Aitken was edged out in a furious final-laps duel by Felipe Nasr in the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 – denying them the coveted Rolex timepieces awarded to race winners.
“He owes us watches,” Bamber said, with a grin.
Reflecting on the season as a whole and the broader debates surrounding driver standings or potential “drop rounds” for drivers facing international schedule clashes, as Aitken at one point suggested, Bamber remains steadfast in his respect for the grit required to win an endurance title.
“I like the fact you have to be very consistent in the championship,” Bamber explained. “At the end of the day, race wins are really good, but championships are what makes it. You’re the most consistent team, manufacturer, drivers throughout the year. You can do some really bold moves sometimes and win a race. That measured attack, approach, of what you’re going to do throughout a whole season to win a championship makes it all something special.
“Not to be harsh, but I’m sure no one in three years’ time is going to remember who won one of the 2 hour 40 minute races this year. They’ll remember forever that Cadillac and Jack won the championship this year.”
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