Jack Aitken’s Daytona charge confirms his status as a world-class endurance ace

February 18th 2026

After losing pole for an overly worn skid block, Cadillac No31 faced a daunting climb from the back of the GTP field at Daytona — until Jack Aitken stepped up.

Jack Aitken, inset, gave the drive of his life at the Daytona 24 Hours, taking his Cadillac to within a whisker of the leading Penske Porsche

Fabrizio Boldoni/DPPI

Marcus Simmons

February 18, 2026

“Aitken has taken it up a notch or two, and he is driving the best he’s driven in his career.” Gold-standard motor sport TV commentator Leigh Diffey nailed it during the final stint of the Daytona 24 Hours as a thrilling battle for victory unfolded between Felipe Nasr and Jack Aitken. And that was even before a bold, eyebrow-raising manoeuvre attempted by the London-born Scottish-Korean as he attempted to push the Action Express-run Whelen Cadillac past the Brazilian’s Penske Porsche 963.

With 21min remaining, Nasr received a tow along the tri-oval from the lapped LMP2 ORECA of Nick Cassidy, yet Aitken received a double tow. He dived below the double-yellow lines at the edge of the track, but Nasr quickly reacted. Seconds later, the Cadillac washed out at the International Horseshoe hairpin to such an extent that Cassidy – ironically Drive of the Month winner in our March issue – almost re-passed him.

Aitken never got so close again, the gap to Nasr 1.5sec at the finish, but this was a terrific drive after the Action Express crew had needed to recover from a series of setbacks that began after the Briton had apparently planted the Cadillac – co-driven by Earl Bamber, Frederik Vesti and Connor Zilisch – on pole, see our race report, “Penske: Ahead of the Curve”.

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The six-and-a-half-hour safety car for fog potentially eradicated a key advantage for the Cadillac, softer on its tyres than the Porsche. It meant everyone was tyre-rich on Michelins for the rest of the race, with no need to double-stint the rubber. “We are fantastic on the tyres and that is what got us back in the race,” explained Aitken. “Obviously everyone was single-stinting at the end. They [the Porsches] can fire up the tyre better than everyone.”

For the one-time grand prix starter with Williams, it has been an enjoyably maverick career since he left the single-seater furrow – Aitken was a title contender in IMSA and DTM last year. This drive only added to his reputation, even though it ended with GTP as the only class without a UK driver on the winning crew.

Driver briefing notes

Elfyn wins, Bathurst argy-bargy and FE has another victor

● Elfyn Evans moved to the top of the WRC by conquering Rally Sweden. The Welshman moved to the front when Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta suffered loss of grip in the Saturday stages. Two early offs left Monte Carlo winner Oliver Solberg fourth behind Sami Pajari in a Toyota 1-2-3-4

● Maxime Martin won a dramatic Bathurst 12 Hours in the GruppeM Mercedes-AMG GT3 he shared with Maro Engel and Mikaël Grenier, inset. He moved to the front 40min from home at the final restart when Kelvin van der Linde’s leading BMW tangled with Jules Gounon’s Mercedes.

● It’s now five winners from five races in Formula E after the double-header on a truncated version of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix street track in Jeddah. Pascal Wehrlein won the first race for Porsche, before António Félix da Costa took his first victory since joining Jaguar. It’s the UK team’s second win of the season.