Firstly, I’m very happy for JOTA to be continuing to grow in WEC with new manufacturer partner Cadillac. It’s awesome news them becoming a “factory” team. They richly deserve this after what the #12 and #38 “privateer” Porsches achieved in the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams’ Championship this year.
It’s a shame I’m not continuing with them but as I explained last time, IndyCar is still very much in my blood and having turned 26 earlier this month, I feel I’ve still got a lot of single-seater racing in front of me. It’s going to be very cool to be involved in Prema Racing’s first season in the series along with Robert Shwartzman.
But it’s good to reflect on 2024. I enjoyed absolutely everything about JOTA. The team hierarchy, the other drivers, engineers and mechanics. It’s so professional while at the same time, knowing how to have a good time.
Overall from my year in the #12 Porsche 963, we had some very impressive races. Second in Qatar and victory at Spa. Some unrewarded drives, like at COTA and in the final race at Bahrain where we were unlucky with Yellows before a GT car failed to see our car when being lapped. But that’s motor racing sometimes.
But as a privateer to get those results and do what we did as a team, especially at Le Mans, to come back and finish eighth after my crash, the work the guys did to get us into the race, was very impressive and something many people, outside the team, didn’t think we’d be able to achieve.
I want to thank JOTA for making me feel so welcome, straight away from my first test in Qatar, and throughout the season.
Best moment in 2024? . . . Would have to be Spa. Winning the race with Will [Stevens] was obviously an amazing achievement. We bonded really well. Worst moment? . . . Let me think about that for a nano-second, unsurprisingly my accident at Le Mans. It caused a lot of stress for everyone. A lot of work for the team. A lot of unknowns as to whether we’d race. I also really enjoyed racing in WEC. It’s amazing how many competitive Hypercar manufacturers and teams there are and there’s a good variety of racetracks.
I’d love to race at Daytona in the 24 Hour event next January. It’s likely we’ll have started IndyCar testing but I’d love to have a crack at the race in Florida. I’m currently trying to find opportunities but it’s not easy being platinum status to get a to get a drive. Let’s see . . .
