The Frenchman is leaving Formula E, where he has raced for Nissan for the past two seasons. His goal is clear: to focus on endurance racing with Cadillac, still in the WEC, but also in IMSA, where he will compete in the longer races in 2027.
The official announcement of Alex Lynn’s move to McLaren , Sébastien Bourdais ‘ departure at the end of the year, and the arrival of their replacements Antonio Félix da Costa and Ricky Taylor: Cadillac made a number of announcements this Thursday, October 15, on the sidelines of the 6 Hours of Barcelona. But one of the American firm’s announcements concerned the other French driver in its lineup. While Sébastien Bourdais will leave the team after the 6 Hours of Monza, Norman Nato will return for a third season with Team Jota, which runs the two V-Series.R cars.
“I had a three-year contract, so it’s not a surprise,” the Frenchman told AUTOhebdo . “ It’s a done deal. And it’s part of the process. We see progress year after year. If you look at Le Mans this year compared to last year, yes, we finished 4th and 4th. You think to yourself, ‘We’re not improving.’ Except that last year, we finished 4th, two laps down, I think. And this year, without the last safety car period, we finished P2. It’s all part of the journey: we’re a new team, after all. Even though the Cadillac has been on the grid for a while now, as a Cadillac-Jota partnership, this is only the second year, and for me personally, it’s also only my second year with Cadillac. Year after year, you improve the package, we’re improving, and the goal is to continue like this for a few more years.” “Right now, we need to finish the championship strong and quickly focus on next year. The level of competition keeps rising, new manufacturers are arriving, and the drivers’ skill level is increasing. Frankly, it’s fantastic, it’s exactly what we want.”
Norman Nato is, however, partially changing his plans for 2027. He’s leaving Formula E after five seasons as a full-time driver: the 34-year-old is leaving Nissan and the electric championship on the eve of the Gen4 era, a major shift he doesn’t regret missing. And for good reason: Nato is leaving Formula E because he has decided to refocus his career on endurance racing with Cadillac. In addition to the WEC rounds , the Cannes native will also compete in the IMSA endurance series in the #40 car, where he will join the duo of Jordan Taylor and Louis Delétraz. This will give Nato the opportunity to finally compete in the 24 Hours of Daytona.
See you in Daytona in January!
“There are several reasons. First, the decision to completely stop Formula E was to focus on endurance racing and finally be able to do those long races that I hadn’t been able to do until now,” he explains. “Formula E always starts in the winter, so there were too many back-to-back races, and that’s the best way to do everything half-heartedly. For me, it was the right time to make the complete switch. And I’ve never done Daytona. I’ve been in endurance racing for years and I’ve never done Daytona, which is kind of silly! Before stopping Formula E, I also checked with Cadillac to see if it was a possibility, because I didn’t want to end up with nothing much to do and just staying home. So everything was planned, prepared. I didn’t stop on a whim; it was already something I’d been thinking about.”
The Cadillac driver also wants to optimize his preparation and knowledge of the car ahead of the WEC season. “ It’s like a tennis or soccer player: the more you train, the better you perform,” he continues. “ It won’t necessarily make me faster on a qualifying lap, but you do more testing, you spend more time in the car and with the Cadillac technical teams, and you’re more involved in the development. All of that will inevitably benefit me; I’ll be better. It’s also something that will allow me to take another step forward on a personal level. ”
Norman Nato will, however, retain his role as a development driver for Ferrari in F1 . It was with the Scuderia that he carried out his first TPC test (test on older cars, editor’s note) a few weeks ago at Mugello (Italy).
Interview conducted by Cyprien Juilhard in Barcelona (Spain).
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