Jack Aitken wary of rivals’ race pace after 12 Hours of Sebring pole

Jack Aitken is relishing his pole-winning run for this year’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, but is skeptical of what pace the competition has for the race.

The 30-year-old delivered a remarkable run in qualifying, seizing the top spot with a flying lap of 1m46.153s around the bumpy 3.74-mile, 17-turn airfield circuit. Behind the wheel of the #31 Whelen Cadillac, he fought off the likes of Acura Meyer Shank Racing’s Tom Blomqvist and Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing’s Filipe Albuquerque to claim the third IMSA pole of his career, and first at Sebring International Raceway.

The one team that was a surprising afterthought in qualifying was Porsche Penske Motorsport, who led the initial two practice sessions on the weekend but saw Kevin Estre put the #6 Porsche 963 in fourth (0.242s behind) and Felipe Nasr’s #7 machine resting in sixth (0.528s behind).

“We know that we’re relatively strong in qualifying,” Aitken said. “It’s been the trend over previous years. Even with the Eco upgrades and stuff we have working on the car now, it seems to be similar.

“Definitely, we’re aware of how strong some of the other cars are, like the ones you mentioned. They don’t show any signs of dropping out of the fight. If anything, they tend to somehow get quicker as the weekend goes on. I’m not taking much stock from what we’ve just seen in qualifying. I believe they’ll be right there from quite early in the race.

“We’ve got some homework to do still to find what we need to win this thing. That’s all we can do.»

Aitken experienced firsthand the challenging pace of Porsche, notably on the wrong end of a close battle for the win with Nasr in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona. Additionally, though, he feels the starting position for the once-around-the-clock crown jewel race isn’t a major factor for the race. 

“I think it’s going to be fairly inconsequential,” Aitken said.

“It’s lovely to be on pole and it’s nice to show how the team is working and putting out a good car and to get the bragging rights at some points, but at the end of the day, we started last in ‘25 because of an issue in qualy and we were into the lead after less than two hours with the help of yellows and stuff. So it’s kind of neither here nor there. 

“We saw that a lot of cars that are further down the grid were very quick in my practice and over longer runs yesterday, so fully expect that they’re going to make their way through as well.”

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— The Motorsport.com Team