News Summary
- Jack Aitken secured the 2026 IMSA GTP Drivers’ Championship at Petit Le Mans.
- Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti did not contest the same full-season programme.
- Cadillac also won the manufacturers’ title, while the No. 31 Whelen entry secured the teams’ championship.
Jack Aitken became the sole winner of the 2026 IMSA GTP Drivers’ Championship, despite sharing the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R with Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti. The explanation lies in their different race programmes: sharing a car does not automatically give its drivers identical championship totals.
Aitken contested the complete GTP season. Bamber missed Long Beach, while Vesti’s programme covered the endurance races and an additional appearance as Bamber’s replacement in California.
Those differences separated their individual points totals. The success of the No. 31 remained a collective achievement, but only Aitken accumulated the points required to claim the full-season drivers’ crown.
Why Bamber’s Long Beach absence mattered
Bamber normally partnered Aitken in the Cadillac, but was unavailable for the April Long Beach round because of his World Endurance Championship commitments. Vesti stepped into the seat alongside Aitken.
The substitution preserved the No. 31 car’s participation and allowed Aitken to continue scoring. Bamber, however, could not receive driver points for an event he did not contest.
Vesti collected points from his own appearances, including Long Beach, but did not compete throughout the complete GTP schedule. Consequently, neither teammate matched Aitken’s season-long total.
| Driver | Programme in the No. 31 Cadillac | Championship consequence |
|---|---|---|
| Jack Aitken | Complete GTP season | Secured the full-season drivers’ title |
| Earl Bamber | Regular partner, absent at Long Beach | Missed that round’s driver points |
| Frederik Vesti | Endurance races and Long Beach | Scored from a partial-season programme |
Qualifying meant Aitken only needed to start
Aitken arrived at Road Atlanta leading Laurin Heinrich by 147 points. His fourth place in Petit Le Mans qualifying, ahead of Heinrich in seventh, increased that advantage to 151.
With 11 GTP entries, the points guaranteed by starting the finale were sufficient to make Aitken’s position unassailable. The title was secured when the Cadillac took the green flag, rather than at the conclusion of the ten-hour race.
“You’ve definitely got one eye on the race start, and the other was just hoping that the car started and got out of pit lane,” Aitken said.
The unusual timing removed the championship uncertainty before the race had properly developed, although the team still had a separate objective: winning Petit Le Mans.
Aitken credits the teammates who helped him win
Aitken acknowledged that the individual championship did not fully reflect the shared effort behind it. Bamber and Vesti contributed to the performances that put him in a position to secure the title.
“I couldn’t have done it without my teammates, and it does feel a little bit bittersweet that they all couldn’t be sharing it with me,” he said.
The result also delivered the GTP Teams’ Championship to the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac entry and the Manufacturers’ Championship to Cadillac. Those awards recognise different competitors from the individual drivers’ standings.
Aitken’s achievement made him the first solo champion in the championship’s top-class lineage since Jörg Bergmeister won the 2006 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series title. It was not the first solo title in American sports-car racing history.
Championship and Petit Le Mans victory go to different competitors
Porsche Penske Motorsport won the season finale with its No. 6 Porsche 963, driven by Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Matt Campbell.
That race victory was separate from Aitken’s full-season championship. Likewise, the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup has its own standings and was won in GTP by Felipe Nasr, Julien Andlauer and Heinrich.
GRANDE PRÊMIO will continue to follow the developments across endurance racing as teams prepare for the 2027 season.
