For an outfit celebrating its 25th birthday this year, JOTA Sport has made countless memories in motorsport over the past quarter-of-a-century. On the eve of the forthcoming TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (8-10 May), Sam Hignett reflects that victory in last year’s race was one of the standout highlights...
With its Porsche 963, Hertz Team JOTA made history 12 months ago as first privateer to triumph outright in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar era. From fourth on the grid, the #12 entry piloted by Will Stevens and Callum Ilott was a factor throughout, and benefitted from a red flag stoppage due to a crash with just under two hours left on the clock.
JOTA had already pitted when the action was halted, whereas many of its rivals still needed to stop for fuel, enabling Ilott to take the lead four laps after the re-start. The Briton thereafter expertly fended off Porsche factory driver Kévin Estre in the closing stages to seal a famous success.
“For me, it was one of our greatest wins as we didn’t have the fastest car that day, but we did have the boldest strategy, which is what won us the race,” recollected JOTA Sport founder and director, Hignett.
The team is no longer a privateer, of course, having since joined forces with American automotive giant General Motors to form Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA. Alex Lynn put the V-Series.R second on the grid at Spa last year, only for its challenge to be ended by the accident that brought out the red flag.
Twice an FIA WEC class-winner in the Ardennes – in LMP2 and LMGTE Pro – the Briton is confident that the legendary Belgian circuit’s fast, flowing nature should play to the Cadillac’s strengths once again.
“We know we have a lot of tracks coming up that suit our car and package,” commented Lynn, who has advanced to Hyperpole on all-bar two of the occasions that he has qualified the V-Series.R, including both events this season. “I think for any race driver to go to Spa is an honour and a privilege, and it’s a track where I personally have always done well. This car goes well there too, so we’ll continue to work hard and look forward to going back.”
Team-mate Jenson Button made his endurance racing debut at Spa in the 1999 24-hour race at the circuit, and the former Formula 1 World Champion won the Belgian Grand Prix from pole position in 2012. The #38 entry that he shares with Bamber and Sébastien Bourdais has yet to trouble the scorers in 2025, but he is optimistic of reversing that trend this weekend.
“There was lots of information from [the last round at] Imola to take on-board and use to come out swinging and stronger at Spa,” Button remarked. “The car seemed to work well there last year, which is good to see, and JOTA did a great job in winning the race. Lots of great memories, so hopefully we can bring that all together and have a good event.”
“We tend to do better where the grip is higher, so hopefully we can find something,” added Bourdais. “Imola is a very specific track with kerb-riding and you have to make a lot of compromises on set-up. Spa is more of a straightforward exercise, so we’ll look to find a happy balance for everybody and get a clean weekend where we can go race.”
