Seamless Synergy: Will Stevens on Cadillac’s Open-Book Philosophy and Delétraz’s Smooth Integration at Le Mans

Preparation is everything at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but even the most meticulous plans must sometimes yield to human reality. For Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, the buildup to this year’s endurance classic was clouded by the bittersweet news that Alex Lynn would be forced to sit out the race. A recurring neck injury required surgery that, due to unavoidable scheduling complications, clashed directly with the June classic. It was a heartbreaking development that nobody in the paddock wanted to see, especially considering Lynn’s spectacular pole position here just twelve months ago.

Yet, true to the relentless nature of top-tier sport, the close teamwork of the Cadillac factory stable pivoted seamlessly. Stepping into the breach to partner Will Stevens and Norman Nato in the #12 V-Series.R is Louis Delétraz—a trusted IMSA factory pilot whose rapid acclimation has already paid dividends on the La Sarthe timesheets.

Speaking to EnduranceandGT at Le Mans, Will Stevens shed light on how the driver transition has affected the mechanical DNA of the car, explaining that performance remains an absolute, unyielding metric.

“In endurance, yes, there are certain compromises we make for certain driver preferences to get to the level the car needs to be at,” Stevens observed. “The car needs to be at its optimum and we’re going to make it as fast as we possibly can. At the end of the day, we can all drive with multiple different balances. So from that point of view, we’ll try and prepare the car to make it as fast as possible, and that won’t change regardless of which driver is in the car.”

That uncompromising focus on raw speed is heavily fortified by the structural depth Cadillac has engineered across its global programs.

“The nice way of how we do it in Cadillac is with the teams working so closely together—obviously I go and do races with Wayne Taylor Racing in the US,” Stevens highlighted, pointing to the inherent chemistry within the roster. “Louis is someone we’ve known very well for a long time, and I think that’s what is great in what we’ve built—the drivers can switch in and out and it’s pretty seamless in making those transitions to not affect us.”

Crucially, JOTA was not caught on the back foot. Foresight and active planning ensured that the groundwork for this contingency had already been laid on the asphalt of Spa-Francorchamps earlier in the WEC campaign.

“Obviously, we’ve prepared in case the unfortunate situation arose that has,” Stevens said sympathetically regarding Lynn’s recovery timeline. “That’s why Louis came to do Spa, so we do as much preparation as we can do. We know how good Louis is, and we have no concern about it affecting anything on our side.”

That confidence is further supercharged by a total lack of organizational barriers in the garage. With a three-car Cadillac onslaught at La Sarthe—including the visiting IMSA entry from Cadillac WTR—the flow of data is entirely unrestricted.

“We can see everything from them and they can see everything from us, which is also the same when it’s IMSA and WEC,” Stevens revealed of the data-sharing infrastructure. “We know everything that’s happening in IMSA and they know everything that’s happening from us. I think it’s great that we do it, because the more cars on track, the more knowledge you have. Everyone can try different things and you fast-track the learning process to ultimately build the fastest racecar we can for the weekend.”

With a shared notebook and total transparency, the mission ahead remains singularly clear.

“Having WTR here is great,” Stevens concluded. “Obviously, it’s a team I know very well, so that transition of working together has been great. We’re debriefing together and there’s no secrets between any of us. I think it’s great that we have all three cars here to ultimately have Cadillac win the race.”