Simon Dolan is part team owner, part driver at Jota Sport, now established as one of the quickest and most consistent of the LMP2 Gentleman drivers he’s got quite a 2014 to look forward to as he contemplates sharing the team’s Jota Zytek in a full ELM and part WEC season alongside a trio of top pro talent.
Simon, the arrangement with Audi is a step forward isn’t it?
“It’s exciting, but it’s also very early days with Audi, albeit with the blessing with Dr Ullrich, but the task in hand is simple – We need to do what we do, a very good job, to ensure that their confidence in the team is built and maintained towards the end of 2014 and then we’ll see where we can take it from there.
“It could very well be the start of something really rather nice and beyond that I think it points to a positive step for young drivers getting onto a career ladder too.
And it has big benefits for a gentleman driver like yourself too?
“Absolutely! I’ve found through the years that it’s all about the coaching that you have available and I have been very fortunate to have worked with some excellent people thus far.
“I started from nothing in terms of experience with Sam (Hancock) and that took me to a certain competitive level. Having Ollie (Turvey) with me last year was a very different kettle of fish but you take certain elements from him and now this year we have Harry (Tincknell) and Filipe (Albuquerque) and I am already taking little bits from them too.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how all of that evolves and now, of course, to seeing how Marc drives and knits with the team too.
“It really is about the chemistry of the team – Last year it was about trying to get somewhere near to Ollie’s lap times, that’s a big ask and I never really got there, no real surprise as he is an F1 quality driver, but I did close the gap, just not as much as I would have liked to have done.
You’ve now had the first test with Harry and Filipe together – How did that go?
“It was really good, the test was really focussed on giving Filipe an opportunity to get dialled in to the car and to the team. He is a really, really nice guy – We’ll have no problems there at all.
“We got plenty of miles under the wheels and did some good work, including a bit of fun at the end with a qualifying simulation for Filipe vs Harry – it was close, and remember Filipe hadn’t run in the car until this test, but the pair were just tenths apart!
“Harry just pipped him and then it was time for the Racing Drivers book of excuses! But the banter was good – it shows that they are well matched, and it shows too how good Harry really is.
“It was also a good marker to Filipe I think, to make sure he was arriving with a good impression of the package we have here – That helps with the mutual respect we all need to perform as well as we all can.
This programme has been a bit of a head turner, but it makes real sense for Audi doesn’t it?
“It absolutely does, and much of the credit for that should go to Allan McNish. He pointed out to Audi that they were putting Filipe in the car for Spa and Le Mans with no real LMP race experience, and under the glare of the public, the media, and of course of Audi themselves with the massive level of expectation that they have.
“His view was that it could only be a good thing to find a way to get him sportscar race experience, dealing with the traffic. That’s where it started, and like so many very good ideas we can all look back and see now how perfectly sensible it was, but kudos to Allan for coming up with it.
“On the wider young driver front it was brilliant to see Brendan (Hartley) being picked up by Porsche. All of a sudden the motorsport world sees that there is something viable and valuable outside of single seaters.
“With good performance in a relatively affordable series he’s launched himself to a position where he’s driving alongside mark Webber at Le Mans!
“That has been a massive head turner I believe for a lot of motor racing dads who have been struggling to find the money to keep their lads on the ladder. Do I spend a seven figure sum on World Series, or do I find £3-400,000 for a worthwhile programme in sportscars? I can race in the greatest race on earth and get under the nose of Audi, Porsche and a lot of others too!
Onto the ELMS – What a turnaround?
“Unbelievable, the numbers they had for the initial full season entry were amazing. I’m sure by the time we get to Silverstone we might be a little down on the initial 42 but Mid 30s and up is a great number.
“That’s good for the Series, but it’s even better in terms of building us all up for Le Mans. Great competition, and good levels of traffic too – It will be busy – but fun!”
Speaking from your personal perspective, has WEC been a serious consideration?
“Honestly no, it is relatively very expensive, you’re looking at a doubling of the budget from ELMS and Le Mans and in truth I much prefer the circuits we have in ELMS to the WEC calendar, we have better competition I believe too. There are some brilliant teams and drivers in WEC but ELMS has more.
“From a business perspective the time required from me is far less and our sponsors have very little interest beyond our current calendar.
Where do you stand on driver rankings?
“They clearly served a purpose of sorts initially but the waters have got ever muddier to the point where they now seem to be just a constant bone of contention. Whether it’s Gentlemen moaning about young pros, manipulation of the rules, or young pros being effectively turfed out of a seat by being ‘promoted’.
“I think it’s time for another look at it, I wouldn’t be unhappy to see them go entirely to be honest. I’m sure it’s a massive headache for the ACO, the man hours that must go into developing it, administering it and dealing with the inevitable fall out from decisions made just can’t be the best use of their time.
I genuinely don’t think that if you did away with the process that it would put too many people off. It might just have a positive effect, getting some of the drivers to up their game and getting away from the less than acceptable driving standards that we have seen, including at Sebring.”
Finally, how did the partnership at Jota come about?
“I’ve been a partner in the team for a long time now. I was introduced to Sam (Hignett) through my early racing plans via Sam (Hancock) who had driven for him in about 2008 in an LMP1 Zytek.
“Jota Sport initially started to run my Radical and eventually everything else got wicked up into that, (initial partner) John Stack was bought out a fair few years ago now and the company is now owned by Sam, myself and David Clark. It’s now more than a racing team with an engineering arm and some projects we do with Mazda and some Historic race preparation too.”
So what next?
“The interesting thing is how well the LMP2 coupes go. In theory the coupes should have an inherent advantage at Le Mans, but nobody yet has managed to get the theory properly into practice! I think someone will this year.
“Our car will likely be at the end of its life at the end of this season so we are needing to consider what comes next. We’ll be looking at what is out there, there is potential for us to develop something ourselves but I don’t really think that’s likely. The of course we need to see how things go with Audi, and depending on how that goes there’s potential for a second car in 2015.
