Cadillac won the 2026 WEC season finale at Monza on November 8, and the Cadillac WEC Monza result came by a clear margin. The No. 38 Cadillac V-Series.R of Earl Bamber, Jack Aitken and Sébastien Bourdais beat the No. 36 Alpine by 5.607 seconds. It was also Bourdais’s last race with Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA.
The Cadillac WEC Monza win capped a season that had not gone the team’s way. It was JOTA’s first victory of the 2026 championship. It also kept a remarkable streak alive, because the team has now won a race in 12 consecutive seasons.
Meanwhile, the title fight ended elsewhere on the order. Toyota’s No. 8 crew finished 10th, and that single point was enough to clinch the Drivers’ crown.
How the Cadillac WEC Monza win unfolded
The No. 38 started third. According to the official FIA WEC race report, Aitken passed pole-sitter Miguel Molina in the No. 50 Ferrari on the opening lap. Then he took the lead on lap six.
From there, the Cadillac stayed in front. Cadillac’s own race release says the car held the lead to the finish of the six-hour race despite pressure from behind. It also set the fastest lap of the race.
Aitken did not see the end in person. After his first stint, he left the track early for the birth of his first child, Cadillac said. Bamber and Bourdais brought the car home.
The sister No. 12 Cadillac had a harder day. It struggled for pace, climbed to fifth late in the race and then failed to finish.
The rest of the Hypercar podium
Victor Martins and Jules Gounon took second in the No. 36 Alpine. Third place went to the No. 51 Ferrari 499P. However, that result came only after two post-race penalties dropped the No. 007 Aston Martin of Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble out of the points.
For the No. 38 trio, this was a first. The FIA WEC report says it was their first win together in the series. For Bourdais, it was his first victory in more than a decade.
Bamber summed it up in four words. “I’m over-the-moon!” he said. Later, he added in Cadillac’s release that the team has “the composure, the team and all the ingredients” to be a real force.
Bourdais signs off with JOTA
Bourdais, 47, raced for the JOTA-run Cadillac factory team for the past two seasons. Monza was his final start with the squad, RACER reported before the race. Alex Lynn is also leaving the team after this season.
His record before Cadillac is long. RACER lists four Champ Car titles, two seasons of Formula 1 and endurance wins at Le Mans, Daytona, Sebring, Petit Le Mans and the Spa 24 Hours. Still, he has no confirmed full-season drive for 2027.
The 2026 Le Mans race showed what nearly was. There, the No. 38 crew fought for the overall win in the first half before power steering trouble ended its challenge. After the win, Bourdais was clear about how it felt. “It’s a great send-off for me – I couldn’t have dreamt of a better way to finish this chapter,” he said.
What the win meant to Cadillac and JOTA
Cadillac’s executives were quick to mark the result. Kristian Aquilina, vice president of global Cadillac, congratulated the crew on “a magnificent win at the 6 Hours of Monza.” For him, the finale gave the program a strong last word on 2026.
David Clark is a director and co-founder of Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA. He pointed to the venue as much as the result. “It’s an amazing win, but to win a World Championship race at Monza is something really special,” he said.
For Bourdais, though, the next step is less certain. RACER noted that FIA driver ratings work against veterans, since he stays at the top Platinum level until age 55. “Whether it’s GT, LMP2 or Hypercar, all I want to do is drive in a program where someone wants me to drive their car,” he told RACER.
Toyota and Corvette take the titles
Toyota had already locked up the Manufacturers’ championship. So the No. 8 crew of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa only needed to score. Their 10th place did the job. “We didn’t have the pace for a win today, but what an amazing season for everyone!” Hartley said.
In LMGT3, Manthey Porsche won for the second race in a row, with Richard Lietz crossing the line first. Eduardo Barrichello’s Aston Martin finished second. Nicky Catsburg then took third in the TF Sport Corvette he shares with Ben Keating and Jonny Edgar.
That podium sealed two titles. TF Sport and Corvette won the LMGT3 Teams’ championship, and Edgar won the Drivers’ title. As a result, Porsche’s unbroken run of LMGT3 titles came to an end. Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, meanwhile, closed the 2026 season with its 12th consecutive season with a race win.
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