Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps winners Jota are assessing expanding their team to two LMP2 cars for next season.
The Kent based team with drivers Simon Dolan and Sam Hancock won at the Belgian track on their WEC debut as they began the season in LMP2 class of the European Le Mans Series. They then raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans before being joined by Nicolas Minassian at the most recent WEC round at Silverstone, finishing seventh in class.
“We’ve enjoyed some incredible success considering this was our first year back in the prototype ranks since Le Mans 2008, and that’s given us the confidence to expand the team’s commitment in 2013,” said team principal Sam Hignett. “The Zytek-Nissan package offers a great platform from which to be competitive right away, something that was seen after no testing prior to Paul Ricard and against the WEC field at Spa where we won, so our preference would be to run a second chassis next year.”
However, with the ELMS season cut short due to falling entries, the team have decided to miss the rescheduled season finale at Petit Le Mans in favour of further development work to prepare for the 2013 campaign. Whether that campaign takes the team to the WEC or ELMS paddocks – or a combination of the two once again – remains to be decided.
There are further plans to hold an open driver assessment test over the coming months with the team targeting drivers looking to further their sportscar careers.
Hignett explains; “Simon Dolan’s staggering progression from novice to World Championship LMP race winner inside four years also demonstrates that the team and car are perfectly suited to helping gentleman drivers develop into professionals. We are fully committed to continuing our prototype programme in 2013 and would be delighted to hear from all of those interested in testing with us later this year.”
