Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA returned to the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) podium at the 2026 Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo, but Norman Nato believed the team possessed the pace to achieve much more.
Will Stevens, Nato and Alex Lynn recovered to finish third in the No. 12 Cadillac V-Series.R, less than seven seconds behind the victorious No. 15 BMW M Team WRT entry. Meanwhile, Earl Bamber, Sébastien Bourdais and Jack Aitken followed directly behind in fourth with the sister No. 38 Cadillac.
The result gave Cadillac its first FIA WEC podium since its breakthrough victory at Interlagos one year earlier. However, slow opening pit stops and separate contact penalties prevented the team from converting a front-row lockout into another potential one-two finish.
Nevertheless, Cadillac recorded its strongest points haul of the season and moved from fifth to fourth in the Manufacturers’ Championship before its home event at the Circuit of The Americas.
Nato rues Cadillac’s missed opportunity
Cadillac entered the six-hour contest as the clear favourite after dominating Saturday’s Hyperpole session. Stevens secured pole position in the No. 12, while Bamber completed an all-Cadillac front row in the No. 38.
Furthermore, no previous winner of the São Paulo FIA WEC round had started from outside the front row. Therefore, Cadillac appeared well placed to repeat its 2025 Interlagos triumph.
Stevens controlled the opening phase, while Bamber remained inside the leading group. However, the first round of pit stops transformed the complexion of the race. A stubborn wheel nut delayed the No. 12 crew, while Bamber locked up while entering the pits in the No. 38. Both incidents cost almost 20 seconds and dropped the Cadillacs outside the top 10.
Although both crews fought back to finish inside the top four, Nato could not overlook the victory that slipped away.
“It was a solid weekend overall,” reflected Nato to FIAWEC.com, “with our first podium of the season ahead of the sister car, which was a good result. It was a strong team effort, but we can’t help but feel disappointed as we had the pace with both cars to get another one-two in Brazil. Unfortunately, the time loss in the pit-stop and small penalty for contact meant it didn’t go our way, but we will keep working and the win will come!”
Cadillac’s recovery demonstrated the V-Series.R’s pace around Interlagos. However, the largely uninterrupted green-flag running gave the team few opportunities to recover the time it had lost.
Stevens launches determined recovery
Stevens immediately began carving his way back through the Hypercar field after the delayed stop.
The British driver passed Brendon Hartley’s Toyota before overtaking defending world champion Antonio Giovinazzi in the No. 51 Ferrari. He then cleared Frédéric Makowiecki’s Alpine and Yifei Ye’s No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari as he restored the No. 12 Cadillac to contention.
However, contact with Clemens Schmid’s No. 87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F created another setback. Race officials handed Stevens a five-second penalty after the two cars made contact while he attempted to lap the LMGT3 entry.
Nato then continued the recovery after taking over the Cadillac, but contact with Phil Hanson’s No. 83 Ferrari sent the Frenchman into a spin.
Despite that interruption, Nato again displayed the V-Series.R’s competitive pace and kept the No. 12 crew in the podium fight. Stevens subsequently returned to the cockpit for the final two hours and closed on the leading BMW and Ferrari.
He eventually crossed the line in third, only 6.682 seconds behind the winner, after Cadillac recovered from outside the top 10.
Bourdais praises team after No. 38 takes fourth
The No. 38 Cadillac encountered a similarly difficult route through the race.
Bamber ran third during the opening stint and kept the car within reach of Stevens and Kevin Magnussen’s No. 15 BMW. However, his pit-entry lock-up cost the crew valuable time during the first round of stops.
Bourdais and Aitken then joined Bamber in leading the recovery. The trio climbed back through the field and brought the sister Cadillac into the fight for a podium position.
Aitken took the chequered flag in fourth, directly behind Stevens. However, race officials later added a five-second penalty for contact to the No. 38 crew’s final race time.
Although the sanction ended the car’s hopes of challenging for third, Bourdais praised the team’s response and highlighted Cadillac’s victory potential.
“A good job by the whole team,” reflected Bourdais. “It really looked like it was possible to achieve another one-two finish at times, but we still managed to recover to P4 and bring home some strong points. We know we have the car to win, so we will keep pushing and moving forwards.”
The No. 38 crew’s fourth-place finish completed Cadillac’s first double top-four result of the campaign. More importantly, both entries showed that they could fight at the front on outright pace.
Green-flag running limits Cadillac’s comeback
The race featured only a brief Full Course Yellow period during the second hour. Consequently, Cadillac could not rely on safety interventions to close the gaps created by its pit-stop problems.
Instead, both crews had to regain positions on track against a closely matched Hypercar field.
Stevens, Nato and Lynn steadily reduced their deficit to the leaders, while Bamber, Bourdais and Aitken followed them through the order. However, BMW M Team WRT executed a clean race and retained the lead with Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor.
The No. 51 Ferrari of Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi also advanced through the field and eventually split BMW and Cadillac at the finish.
Less than seven seconds covered the top three after six hours, underlining how significantly Cadillac’s early delays influenced the result. Even one cleaner pit stop could have placed the No. 12 crew in direct contention for victory during the closing laps.
Moore takes confidence from Cadillac’s pace
Despite the missed opportunity, Cadillac Racing Chief Engineer Jeremy Moore focused on the pace that both cars demonstrated throughout the weekend.
Cadillac controlled qualifying, led the opening hour and recovered both entries into the top four after the first pit-stop sequence dropped them down the order.
The result also delivered Cadillac’s largest championship score of the season. As a result, the American manufacturer moved ahead of Alpine and into fourth place in the Manufacturers’ standings.
Moore believes the team can use that progress as a foundation for the next round.
“It was a good result for the team, with some solid points for the championship,” summarised Moore. “We had a very strong opening hour, showing good pace and performance. Unfortunately, with the pit-stops, we lost time and the race was green most of the way which made it very hard to make that back up again, but we have proven we have the speed, so we can go into the next race confident that we can fight for victory.”
Cadillac therefore left São Paulo with contrasting emotions. The team celebrated its return to the podium and its strongest overall result of 2026, but it also recognised that execution prevented a potential victory.
Cadillac targets home victory at COTA
Cadillac will now turn its attention to the Lone Star Le Mans at the Circuit of The Americas from 4-6 September.
The championship’s annual summer break gives the team an opportunity to assess the pit-stop issues and incidents that disrupted its São Paulo challenge. At the same time, the performance of both V-Series.Rs provides clear encouragement before Cadillac races on home soil.
The Anglo-American alliance demonstrated qualifying speed, strong race pace and the ability to recover through the Hypercar field at Interlagos.
However, Cadillac must now combine that performance with cleaner execution if it wants to convert its potential into victory at COTA.
