4th consecutive podium for Whelen Cadillac Racing
Another Sebring race can now be added to Vesti’s CV. This time it resulted in a P3 finish and a fourth consecutive podium for Whelen Cadillac Racing. An impressive track record, but the Sebring result will be remembered in particular because the team faced major challenges early in the race.
"We were hit by a Porsche leaving us with minor, irrepairable damage that we had to manage for the rest of the race. After that, the car never really felt the same. Our pace wasn’t great, even though we had been flying before the contact. But somehow we managed to fight our way back into contention. During my stints, I moved us up from P5 and P6 to P3. That was possible thanks to strong strategy from the team and a lot of effective fuel saving. So that was really cool!
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"That’s why this third place honestly feels like a win! We were about half a second to a second off the leading car. I was driving flat-out, going off-track at times and trading paint with several cars. I just went for it—on the outside, on the inside—everywhere. It was an incredibly tough race in every way, and like I said, we were on the back foot the whole time.
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"Personally, I feel like I did a really solid job today—but ideally I’d like to hear that from my bosses :-) I hope my performance shows I can deliver and that I’m worth my paycheck. The momentum continues for both the drivers and the team. When the team leads the way, we as drivers have something to live up to!
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Vesti’s teammate, pole-sitter Jack Aitken, shared a similar assessment:
"We were not the fastest thing out there, but some great calls from the team vaulted us into podium contention with a few hours to go, and we clung on by our fingertips!! All three of us drove the wheels off it and had a few near-misses to prove it, but that’s a really awesome result on a tough day for us.
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Vesti is already back on a plane—once again—heading from the U.S. to Suzuka, where the third Formula 1 Grand Prix of the season takes place this coming weekend.
