Two-time Le Mans winner Earl Bamber will race for Cadillac in next year’s IMSA SportsCar Championship in what looks set to be a twin programme straddling the World Endurance Championship.
Bamber, winner at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2015 and 2017 with Porsche, was announced as a full-season driver for the solo Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh when the General Motors brand took the wraps off its full line-up for its three IMSA GTP class entries on Wednesday.
Cadillac will not be revealing its roster for the two Jota WEC entries until after next month’s series finale in Bahrain, but it is expected that Bamber will move over to the British team from the Ganassi squad with which he has raced in the series for the past two seasons.
The New Zealander, who joined Cadillac for an IMSA programme with Ganassi in 2021 after his departure from Porsche, has made no secret of his desire to race in IMSA’s GTP class alongside his WEC commitments with the brand.
No confirmation of Bamber’s dual programme was forthcoming from Cadillac ahead of its WEC announcement, which is understood to be due in mid-November.
But Bamber alluded to a joint programme in his statements in the IMSA announcement from Cadillac.
“Hopefully I can bring experience from the WEC and IMSA, and I think it will also bring a little bit of continuity,” he said.
“We have that on the engineering side and hopefully on the driver side that shared information from both platforms brings us forward.”
What is not clear is what programme will take precedence for Bamber when the two series have a conflicting date in May with the Spa WEC round and the Laguna Seca IMSA event taking place on the same weekend.
The same would apply to Le Mans should Action Express return to the double-points round of the WEC, which it has contested as an additional Caddy entry for the past two editions.
Bamber is replacing four-time Sebring 12 Hours winner Pipo Derani at Action Express, winner of the IMSA GTP title in 2024, after the Brazilian announced his decision to leave Cadillac back in June.
Briton Jack Aitken will remain as a full-season Action Express driver for a second season, while 2023 Formula 2 runner-up Frederik Vesti comes in as the team’s additional driver for selected long-distance races in Michelin Endurance Cup segment of the IMSA series.
The 22-year-old Dane, who is a Mercedes Formula 1 reserve driver this year, is getting his maiden chance with a manufacturer in sportscar racing after taking his first steps in the discipline this year in LMP2 in the European Le Mans Series.
His season with the Swiss Cool Racing squad included two podiums at Paul Ricard and Portimao in May and October respectively aboard one of the team’s ORECA-Gibson 07s.
Bamber, who this year contested three IMSA enduros with Corvette Racing in GT Daytona Pro, described the chance to return to IMSA with Action Express as “an exciting opportunity”.
“I’ve really missed IMSA, driving in America,” he added.
Action Express team boss Gary Nelson said: “We are all very excited to have such an amazing group of talented drivers lined up for the 2025 season.
“Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber bring a great combination and bringing in a young, talented Frederik Vesti for endurance races adds to what we’re trying to accomplish.”
