JOTA Sport is ready to embark on its fourth European Le Mans Series LMP2 assault at this weekend’s 4 Hours of Silverstone (April 11).
The British squad finished second in last year’s standings, just four points behind Signatech Alpine.
This year, Simon Dolan’s team will be gunning for the top prize following a highly successful winter development programme. Dolan will share the #38 Gibson-Nissan 015S with factory LMP1 drivers Filipe Albuquerque and Harry Tincknell, which makes for one of the strongest line-ups in the ELMS.
The team is hoping to redeem itself at the track where the title was ultimately lost last year. With a healthy race lead and just 48 minutes to go, Dolan lost control when avoiding a GT Ferrari. The JOTA car careered into the Hangar Straight wall head-on, taking the Larbre Compétition Morgan with it. After such a disappointing end to last year’s opening race, Dolan is ready to make amends in 2015.
“We had victory taken away from us in the closing stages of last year’s Silverstone race having fought so hard,” he said. “We’ll be going flat out from the first moment of opening practice but very mindful of the need to score big points. It’s a relatively short championship and therefore every race and every point is very important as we found out last year.”
Albuquerque and Tincknell will be two of the main drivers to watch in this weekend’s ELMS opener. Albuquerque is a contracted Audi Sport works driver, while Tincknell is on loan from Nissan NISMO’s LMP1 programme. Tincknell will be making his return to the ELMS with JOTA Sport after original driver Nick Yelloly unexpectedly left the team last month, coupled with the delay of Nissan’s FIA WEC campaign.
Both drivers are equally determined to win on JOTA Sport’s home soil, and to give the team an early boost in the teams’ standings.
“We’ll be gunning for a victory,” asserted Tincknell. “I like everything about Silverstone – it’s my one and only ‘home’ race of the year. I have ‘bossed’ it there for the last two years. It’s high-speed and flowing with good overtaking opportunities.”
“Silverstone is a really nice track,” added Albuquerque. “It has a little bit of everything, slow, medium and fast corners. To race there is always special. It’s one of few race tracks in the world that has that special character. I know that this track suits our car so we are aiming for a big score. The weather in England is always a question mark but I hope it’s a dry race for the fans.”
The 4 Hours of Silverstone, which is supporting the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, will take place on April 11 at 14:30 GMT.
