JOTA & The Road To 2025: Part 1

JOTA will enter its 25th year of competition next season as Cadillac’s factory team in the FIA World Endurance Championship, another huge step forward from a team that has seen success and innovation for much of its history.

From a Group N touring car genesis via campaigns in one-make Porsche, CN, SR2, LMP1, LMP2, LMP3, GTE Pro, GT3, GT4 and now Hypercar, the UK-based effort has developed a reputation for excellence with major race and championship wins under both its own, and commercial partner monikers.

Established at the end of 2000 by Sam Hignett and later in partnership with John Stack, the outfit started out in a very modest fashion. It’s been quite a journey from humble beginnings to now, with the team ready to represent General Motors on the world stage next season.

Here’s how it got there:

2000: It all began with a Honda Integra R for the Spa 24 Hours and Nurburgring 24 Hours, with Sam Hignett and original partner John Stack joined here by Gavin Pickering.

2001: A shift across to the pan-European Renault Sport Clio V6 Series came a year later, with three cars and a car apiece for Hignett and Stack (pictured).

2002: The start of the sportscar journey began in modest terms in John Mangoletsi’s FIA Sportscar Championship in 2002. The team fielded a beautifully presented Pilbeam in the junior SR2 class and raced to second in the class standings.

2003: The Pilbeam continued for a second season in the final year for the FIA SCC, still with Hignett and Stack driving. They finished in the standings as the FIA SCC chapter ended.

2004: 04 saw a big step forward as the Le Mans Endurance Series launched and Team Jota obtained a brand new Zytek 04S (Zytek’s first car built) for the LMP1 class. Hignett and Stack were joined by Gianni Collini in a run to sixth in the standings.

2005: The team continued with the Zytek in the Le Mans Series and fielded a variety of talent. Hignett and Stack were joined by a revolving cast during the season, including Haruki Kurosawa, Gregor Fisken, Sam Hancock and Jason Tahincioglu en route to a second consecutive sixth-place finish in the championship.

Jota also had a strong debut run at Le Mans that year, running in the top five before a late-race incident.

2006: The Jota brand was parked and the team took on the mantle of Zytek Engineering’s works team with the new 06S – again in the renamed Le Mans Series and again at Le Mans.

A part season saw a podium at Spa for the all-Danish crew of John Nielsen, Casper Elgaard and Philip Andersen. That same trio raced to a delayed finish at Le Mans too, with a further points finish for Hideki Noda and Stefan Johansson at the Nurburgring.

Elsewhere the team made its stateside debut with races at Petit Le Mans and Laguna Seca. The race at Road Atlanta saw the team take a fine second place overall with the car in the hands of Haruki Kurosawa, Johnny Mowlem and Stefan Johansson.

2007: There was another Jota-run LMP1 effort in 2007, this time the Charouz Racing Systems Lola Judd. A podium finish at Valencia for Stefan Mucke and Jan Charouz was the team’s best result en route to fifth in the series.

Alex Yoong joined the team for Le Mans where it finished eighth overall.

The season was completed with another ALMS adventure, again as the Zytek Engineering factory team, but this time in LMP2 at Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca. Danny Watts, Stefan Mücke and Jan Charouz took an LMP2 class podium, fourth overall at Petit Le Mans.

2008: JOTA Sport entered another new realm with a two-car entry in Porsche Carrera Cup GB, with Sam Hancock and Phil Quaife.

Three race wins for Hancock saw him finish third in the title standings. Fifth for Quaife would see Jota secure the runner-up position in the Teams’ title.

Hancock’s future co-driver Simon Dolan began his racing career during the season in a JOTA-run Radical.

Team Jota also ran a pair of top-class sportscar efforts during the year, again looking after the Charouz-owned Lola Judd at Le Mans, and campaigned for the Cytosport Muscle Milk team with Greg Pickett, Klaus Graf and Jan Lammers, though the car retired with an engine failure.

There was again an American adventure with selected races for the groundbreaking Hybrid Zytek of Corsa Motorsports, Gunnar Jeannette, Johnny Mowlem and Stefan Johansson scoring a class podium at the final round.

Simon Dolan had his racing debut and first race win in April of this year at Snetterton in a Radical.

2009: The Team Jota moniker was retired in 2009 with Jota Sport replacing the now decade-old identity.

The team would add another new campaign and ran the newly developed Ligier JS49 prototype in the V deV Sportscar Championship, Challenge Endurance Proto and the UK Speed Series, Sam Hancock and Simon Dolan driving to third overall in the UK Speed Series.

A second Jota CN effort saw a Juno SSE fielded in the V de V Championship for Ollie Hancock and Chris Cappuccini.

Johansson and Mowlem again drove the Corsa Motorsports hybrid LMP1 Zytek in the American Le Mans Series again this year, their best result in a campaign that saw the team miss the first few races of the season was a third place at Lime Rock.

2010: The team continued with the Ligier JS49 for a second year in the European V de V Championship and the UK Speed Series, taking three wins over the season across both championships.

Jota also switched to GT racing and became an official partner team to Aston Martin Racing competing with a GT4 Aston Martin in the Spa 24 Hours where it won the GT4 class with Sam Hancock, Simon Dolan, Roger Wills and Joe Twyman.

A GT4 effort at the Britcar Silverstone 24 Hours saw the team score fifth overall and second in class.

Jota Sport meanwhile started a long relationship with Mazda. Mazda UK commissioned Jota to run its MX-5 production sports cars as part of the celebrations surrounding the car’s 21st anniversary. The cars were driven by six journalists at Bricar endurance races at Snetterton and Silverstone.

2011: Jota stepped up to a GT2/ GTE class Aston Martin entering the Le Mans Series with a V8 Vantage GT2 car in the GTE Pro class.

The effort proved to be a disappointment. Simon Dolan and Sam Hancock were the full-season duo, joined by Chris Buncombe for the 6 Hours of Silverstone and at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The team’s best LMS finishes proved to be fifth in class at both Spa and Estoril, the Aston Martin posting a DNF at Le Mans.

The Mazda connection continued meanwhile, with a programme to create a GT4-spec version of the MX-5 to compete in Britcar’s Production Championship. Mark Ticehurst and Owen Mildenhall would battle to a seventh-place finish in the Championship.