Interview conducted by and written by Aaron Carroll, Edited by Umut Yelbaşı
Jack Aitken speaks to Aaron Carroll about the upcoming Sebring 12 Hours, his hopes for the 2025 IMSA season, his third consecutive Le Mans entry and more in this exclusive interview with DIVEBOMB Motorsport. The full interview can be found on our YouTube page.
This interview was conducted before the 12 hours of Sebring 2025.
AC - Aaron Carroll
JA - Jack Aitken
AC - “So you're back at the track here, where you’ve had success before, winning the race two years ago. Is Sebring a favourite track of yours?”
JA - “It’s a favourite [track] because of how unique it is. I think every driver wants to experience the bumps of Sebring and see just how bad it is. They probably haven’t touched the surface of this place in half a century. It’s a pretty amazing experience in that sense.
“We do a test here every year, and you always come away from that two-day test feeling a little beaten up and not every track does that. It’s a physical challenge, it’s a mental challenge, especially when you get to the night at the end of the race, and there’s not a lot of floodlights around this track so it's proper darkness. So all of those factors make the Sebring 12 a pretty cool race.”
AC - “You mentioned the test you completed. How did everything feel there, how did the car feel?”
JA - “It feels good. I think this is one of the tracks that is probably one of our stronger events. We won here a couple of years ago with some good fortune, but we’ve always been quick here. I think we have a good chance of being in the mix again this year and there's a lot of mistakes that happen on race day here, given the brutal nature of the track. The traffic– It's a very high-density traffic race for us and just being quick isn't enough, but I think the car feels good and the Cadillac definitely works well here.”
AC - ”So with the level of competition we have in the IMSA Sportscar Championship at the moment, do you think this year you could be on top of the podium on Saturday evening?”
JA - “Yeah, definitely. I mean, like I said, the car feels good. I think we're just going to try and keep tweaking things through practice, we got some ideas on how to improve things further. We know that we've got really stiff competition from the whole field, every year it seems to get bumped up a level and it's no different this year.
“So I think we're not taking pace for granted and then come race day, I think there's a few things that we can do to try and minimise mistakes, get ourselves out of situations where bad luck might become a factor, create your own luck and all of that and hopefully we're there for the showdown in the last hour and then I would back up our chances pretty well.”
AC - “So we said there about the level of competition, this weekend you have Aston Martin joining the road and then the next couple of years you have Ford and Genesis as well. How does it feel being a driver in this sort of platinum era, if you will, of sports car racing?”
JA - “Yeah, it’s great. I've heard people saying we're going to look back on these years as the golden era and how lucky we were and might not even realise it at the time, but I think it's pretty clear.
“I would love to see more cars on the grid in IMSA in particular because, I won't lie, when you look across to the WEC side where they have 20 plus cars or nearly 20 cars every week for racing, that's pretty amazing and it's a jam-packed field full of talent. So to have brands like Ford, Genesis, Aston Martin joining the fray in IMSA as well, that's going to be great. We welcome more challenges and fuller grids and it's bringing full crowds every weekend.
“The atmosphere is always incredible. The variety of engine noises and body styles that we're seeing are still fantastic as well. So hopefully it continues, the budgets can stay under control and, you know, the next package of rules, whenever they come, they live up to the high bar that's been set because it's really a fantastic time to be racing and as a driver, it just makes those wins, when they do come, even more special.
“I think it's fair to say that it's quite a different landscape to five years ago when, whether it was WEC or IMSA, the grid sizes were a lot smaller and the competition, I think, was far narrower. So wins came a bit easier to those people out the front of the field. No win is easy now. So yeah, it's a cool time to be racing.”
AC - “What are your goals for the season as a team?”
JA - “We had a pretty challenging year last year. It's the first time in a long time for Action Express and Whelan-Cadillac that we didn't score a win. We came really close on multiple occasions and it was a tough year but from that, we've got some good lessons and I think there was nothing that we were– I think our processes were really good. We know the car is good and capable of winning and we know the driving talent was good as well, that means the ingredients are kind of there.
“So we haven't made huge changes coming into this year. We've just refined a few things and we're just trying to really hone in on those little things that might make the difference at the end. We were competitive in Daytona, mechanical failure is always unfortunate and unlucky to an extent and we're looking competitive coming into Sebring.
“I think the morale on the team is pretty good. We want to be fighting for the championship and fighting for wins and that's always the goal. It's super clear. It hasn't changed in, I think, a decade for this team but it's got a little bit more fire behind it at the moment given the year that we had last year.”
AC - “Looking ahead to the European season and this summer, you'll be competing in your third consecutive Le Mans 24. Of course, you'll be excited for another chance at the great race. Do you think Cadillac can win?”
JA - “I think anybody can win, yeah. It's a really difficult one to call. Obviously, coming into the WEC field and quite a different track to what we're used to in America and IMSA, that always requires quite a quick adaptation.
“But over the last couple of years when we've been there, we've learned a lot and I think we're pretty comfortable going over there and hitting the ground running. But it's what I said earlier. You've got [around] 21 cars this year in the hypercar field, and every single car is filled with talent. I think we're actually the only crew that don't have a Le Mans winner driving as part of the lineup.
“I saw that stat on X the other day and was slightly depressed but also amazed by that. It's incredible. There's some really experienced [and] really talented guys there and I think almost every manufacturer is up there and capable of being in the fight.
“Nobody really knows how it's going to turn out so we're going to go there and give it our best and have a good time while we do it. I think it's always more difficult for teams that are coming from outside of WEC and jumping in for that one race, if nothing else, because the chance of mistakes on the regulation side are a lot higher. There are different regulations in WEC and IMSA, so we have to be really on it in terms of making sure that we don't fall into habits and [don’t just do] what we've been doing all year, whereas the guys that have been running those regulations all year, it's natural for them.
“I think the style of the race and the style of the track are all a bit more European in those ways and, again, if you're doing it for the whole season you are more used to it. I think it's always going to be harder for those invited teams coming across from America and IMSA in particular, but it helps having the experience of prior Le Mans and previous years.”
AC - “Moving away from the prototypes of this season, you'll be competing in DTM with Emil Frey and Ferrari. Are you looking forward to being in GT3 again and contesting another season?”
JA - “Yes. For me, GT3 sprint racing is really what DTM is. It's a bit of a different flavour to IMSA and I like to do slightly different things. It keeps me flexible, not getting too honed in on one style of driving and one style of racing.
“DTM is very similar to the hypercar racing at the moment in that it's chock full of talent at the front of the field and it's still a very prestigious championship to win, so people go all out for it. Some of the circuits are a little bit more old school, again a bit like IMSA, so it does feel like a natural home for me in a lot of senses. Emil Frey is a team that I've worked with for four years now and they're a great bunch of people that have got a really solid set of drivers, program, whatever you want to call it, so it's a pleasure to be with them again.
“It's the same thing, we're going to be looking for race wins and going for the championship because we got a few wins under our belt last year, which is always a big step to take, but we didn't have the consistency and there's a few things we can do better, so definitely looking forward to that and doing some hard racing.”
With a tough season of racing ahead in both prototypes and GTs, Jack Aitken could have plenty of chances to taste champagne on the top step of the podium, but only time will tell.
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