A hometown win for Sébastien Bourdais slips through his fingers again as the No. 38 Cadillac falls eight laps down after an extended stay in the garage.
The No. 38 Hertz Team Jota Cadillac's chance of a win in the 94th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has come to an end shortly after the clock struck 4 AM at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
The roller coaster ride for the No. 38 HTJ Cadillac V-Series.R V8 and its pilots, Jack Aiken, Earl Bamber, and Sébastien Bourdais, have hit their biggest valley as shortly after hitting from the lead and successfully completing a full stop and driver change, the car returned to the garage two laps later for an unknown issue.
View Price on AmazonThe Cadillac was parked in the garage for more than 35 minutes, losing seven laps to the leaders, only ahead of the No. 50 Ferrari 499P, which spent a similar amount of time in the garage with an issue with its fire extinguisher during the ninth hour.
After putting the car on Hyperpole Friday, the team had its position stripped while they celebrated atop the Le Mans winner circle. The second time in as many years that Aiken had the fastest lap but would not start on pole.
The trio battled back, with Aiken taking the race start and running up into contention for a podium. By hour six, the Cadillac led, it held on to its lead through pit cycles through the first seven hours of the night stint on fast soft tires and the buffer of its garagemates the No. 12.
The No. 38 ran the fastest lap of the first half with a time of 03:26:370.
Cadillac still chases its first win at Le Mans, but the pressure shifts to the No. 12, which leads the race over the No. 20 BMW and a duo of Toyotas.
Source: roadandtrack.com
