Cadillac's Vesti Era Begins in the 2027 IMSA Lineup

Global Motorsport News
Author: Mustafa Odabaşı
Creation: 18 October 2026

Frederik Vesti takes Cadillac's 2027 GTP seat full-time while Earl Bamber shifts to endurance races, with the new era beginning at Daytona.

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Cadillac Racing has announced its 2027 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP lineup, and one name is at the center of the announcement: Frederik Vesti. After spending the last two seasons with extra and endurance duties in the #31 Cadillac Whelen car, the Danish driver moves into a full-time seat in 2027. The name shifted to endurance racing in his place is Earl Bamber. The lineup announcement also clarified the plan for the season, which will begin with the Rolex 24 at Daytona on January 30-31, 2027.

Highlights

Frederik Vesti will be a full-time GTP driver in 2027 in the #31 Cadillac Whelen car
Earl Bamber has been moved to IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup duties
Cadillac will race for the third consecutive time in 2027 with three V-Series.R and two partner teams will race
Jack Aitken will continue his full-season duty as the 2026 GTP champion
Season opener: Rolex 24 At Daytona, January 30-31, 2027

Whose Place Is Frederik Vesti Taking?

The logic of the change is simple: the roles swapped. Vesti takes over Earl Bamber's full-season duty in the #31 Whelen Cadillac. Bamber, meanwhile, will focus on the long-distance races covered by the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup. According to Frontstretch's assessment, behind this shift is the necessity of balancing Bamber's full-time program in the WEC, another series besides IMSA. Carrying both roles at the same time is not sustainable, either physically or logistically; Cadillac appears to have resolved this clearly.

The team's choice should not be read as an ordinary seat handover. Vesti spent the last two seasons as an endurance driver in the same #31 car and also took part in selected sprint races. He gained experience on eight GTP circuits; the only new stop on the 2027 calendar will be Detroit. In other words, the learning years are complete, and the full-season duty is not a reward but the next step of the plan. The driver's own assessment points in the same direction: it is reported that after a few learning years, the promotion to fight for the championship was always part of the plan, that he is more than excited to return by completing all nine races, and that he believes they own the strongest gray Toni lineup.

The question of the fourth seat in the #31 car will be announced before the Rolex 24 At Daytona. In Cadillac's three-car program, the need for extra drivers in the endurance class continues, and that is the only missing link.

The Aitken Parallel: Who Has Passed This Path Before?

The most meaningful context of this move is that it almost exactly overlaps with the career trajectory of Vesti's new teammate, Jack Aitken. Both are drivers who raced in Formula 2 but never reached an F1 seat. Aitken made a grand prix appearance with Williams at the 2020 Sakhir GP; Vesti, meanwhile, was the name waiting in the wings as Mercedes-AMG F1's reserve driver. Both started as third drivers in the sports car world: Aitken first got his foot in the door by winning the 12 Hours of Sebring, became a full-time driver, and reached the GTP championship in 2026. The path Vesti will follow is the very path that was just crowned with a championship.

This parallel is not a comparison made in vain. A realistic career model has been established in the IMSA GTP arena for young drivers with an F2 background: drivers whose F1 dream has not closed, or has closed, are finding a stable place in a top-level prototype program and fighting for championships there. Vesti's Mercedes reserve driver role also continues; meaning the Dane is in a position that keeps both doors open at once.

Why Vesti's Biography Justifies This Move?

Vesti's resume is not one of those one-off talent pool stories. Born on January 13, 2002, the driver went down in history as the first champion of the Formula Regional European Championship; that season he crushed his rivals with 13 wins and 467 points. He collected four wins in FIA F3 and holds the record for the most points scored in the category with 284.5 points. In 2023, he finished Formula 2 in second place with Prema Racing.

His record on the IMSA side is short but intense. After stepping into the LMP2 class with Tower Motorsport at Motul Petit Le Mans in 2024, he joined the #31 program and produced 3 wins, 6 podiums, 3 pole positions and 3 fastest laps in 13 starts. In 2025, he took GTP class victories at the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks in Indianapolis and at Petit Le Mans in Road Atlanta; in 2026 the class victory extended to Watkins Glen as well. For a driver moving to a full season, the sought-after qualities - track knowledge, winning instinct and team harmony - are all complete on paper.

2027 Cadillac GTP Lineup: Three Cars, Two Teams

Cadillac has confirmed that in 2027, for the third consecutive time, it will field three V-Series.R prototypes with two partner teams. The car under the Whelen banner is run by Action Express Racing; the other two cars are under the Wayne Taylor Racing umbrella. The complete lineup is as follows:

Car	Full Season	Endurance
#31 Cadillac Whelen	Jack Aitken, Frederik Vesti	Earl Bamber
#10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing	Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque	Will Stevens
#40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing	Jordan Taylor, Louis Delétraz	Norman Nato

There is no change on the Wayne Taylor side, and that is the principle the team boss has almost turned into a slogan: continuity is a must. Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque will race together in their seventh consecutive season since 2021; Jordan Taylor and Louis Delétraz are looking at the start of their fourth year. It is clear that for the endurance duties of Norman Nato, who comes from the WEC, the team will rely on the French driver's long-distance experience. The #10 crew's second and fourth place finishes in the 2026 season finale can be counted as the concrete return of the rhythm that continuity brings.

The Picture for Cadillac: Defending the Championship

The announcement is not an empty desk plan; a solid track record of success stands behind it. The 2026 season brought Cadillac the GTP manufacturers' championship, and the #31 Whelen crew won the drivers' championship. As the brand celebrates its tenth year since the DPi-V.R's debut in 2017, it stands ahead of all manufacturers with 36 DPi and GTP wins since 2017; the total podium count is 115 (30 GTP, 85 DPi).

General Motors' motorsport racing operations manager Eric Warren's definition of the goal also fits this picture: defending the championships, sustaining Cadillac's endurance racing heritage, and pursuing success on every lap starting from the Rolex 24. Action Express general manager Gary Nelson, meanwhile, emphasized that for 2027 the roster is being kept the same, apart from the Vesti-Bamber role swap. Those who have been in this business for many years know: not changing a championship-winning structure is a harder decision than changing it, and that is usually the right call.

Signals from within the team's 2026 season are also promising. The victory of the #10 car in the six-hour race at Road America ended the Taylor-Albuquerque duo's winless streak of more than two years, and it combined with a third-place finish for the #40. The Detroit and Petit podiums are also among the points Wayne Taylor himself cited as reference.

13 Autosport's Roster and Global Expansion Goal

Although the roster announcements are Cadillac-centered, there is news on the GTD side as well. The Canadian team 13 Autosport announced an unchanged roster and an expanded program for its 2027 IMSA campaign. The team is continuing in the GTD class with the Corvette; Orey Fidani and Matt Bell will carry on with full-season duties, while Lars Kern will once again serve in the Michelin endurance races.

The most interesting point is the plan beyond the IMSA commitment: 13 Autosport is aiming for an international expansion covering Bathurst and Europe. This can also be read as a well-established GTD team's reflex of not putting all its eggs in one basket in order to stand on its own feet; because across the field, concerns are being voiced about car counts following Acura's withdrawal from GTP and the closure of some established GTD teams. Cadillac's three-car, unchanged program stands out as an example of stability against this turbulent picture.

When Does the 2027 Season Start?

Frederik Vesti, 2027'de IMSA'da ilk kez tam zamanlı olarak Cadillac'ın GTP üçlüsünün direksiyonuna geçiyor.

The answer to the calendar question is clear: the 2027 IMSA season opens with the Rolex 24 At Daytona, to be run at Daytona International Speedway on January 30-31, 2027. The fact that Cadillac also made last year's roster announcement in October shows the brand maintains its habit of early planning. The countdown has now begun for Vesti; the next exciting step will be the announcement of the fourth driver to be selected for the #31's Rolex 24 campaign.