How a 2000 Honda Integra project in Tunbridge Wells became a Le Mans podium team, a 2022 World Endurance Championship winner and a Cadillac factory entry.
Jota Sport is a British endurance racing team founded in 2000 by Sam Hignett and John Stack. Based in Tunbridge Wells, it won the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship, took an overall Le Mans podium in 2017 and became a Cadillac factory entry in 2025.
Jota Sport is a British sports car team based in Tunbridge Wells, England, and it has grown into one of the most consistent endurance operations in the World Endurance Championship. Its roots lie in a 2000 project to race a Honda in endurance events, and it has since run cars for Aston Martin, Porsche and Cadillac. It won the WEC title in 2022.
Who founded Jota Sport and where is it based?
Sam Hignett, then a materials engineering student, and racing driver John Stack set up the team in 2000. Jota Sport now sits within the Jota Group, owned by Hignett and David Clark, and works from Tunbridge Wells in England, where it has operated for two decades.
The team's opening machine was a Honda Integra prepared for long-distance events, and in its debut year it entered the 24 Hours Nurburgring and the Spa 24 Hours, which set the tone for the decades of endurance racing that followed.
Each step built on the last. The team raced a Renault Clio V6 Trophy car and returned to the Nurburgring the following year, and in 2002 it bought a Pilbeam SR2 for the FIA Sportscar series, where it took second overall in SR2 machinery. A second year with the Pilbeam brought third place in the championship.
A Honda project in Tunbridge Wells grew into a Le Mans podium team, a WEC champion and a Cadillac factory operation.
How did the sportscar years from 2004 to 2009 shape the team?
In 2004 the team bought the very first car Zytek built, the Zytek 04S, which started a tie with that engineering firm that has lasted to the present day. Gianni Collini joined Hignett and Stack for the Le Mans Endurance Series, where the trio ended sixth overall.
The 2005 season brought another sixth-place championship finish and the first Le Mans start. The car was out after an accident on track, although it had been running fifth until hour 22 of the race.
In 2006 the team ran the Zytek factory team in the Le Mans Series, at Le Mans, and across the last pair of rounds in the American series. The factory car finished second overall at Petit Le Mans and 24th overall at Le Mans, fifth in its class.
The 2007 season brought a Lola-Judd LMP1 run by Charouz Racing Systems, a new partnership in endurance racing. Alex Young joined the line-up, and the car finished eighth overall at Le Mans, a strong result for a squad still finding its feet at the top of the sport.
In 2008 the Jota Sport brand arrived alongside Simon Dolan and Sam Hancock in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB. Hancock and Phil Quaife earned five poles and three race wins between them, which produced second place in the championship. Dolan's own debut brought a first win in April at Snetterton, driving a Radical.
The name Team Jota was dropped in 2009, and the company raced a Ligier JS49 prototype in V de V's European series and the UK Speed Series. That pairing finished third overall in the UK Speed Series, a solid return for the new car.
In 2010 the team became an official partner of Aston Martin Racing and ran a GT4 Aston Martin at the Spa 24 Hours, where it took a class win. Mazda UK also commissioned the team to run MX-5 sports cars to mark the model's 21st anniversary.
How did Jota move into Aston Martin and Zytek LMP2 racing?
The team raced an Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 in the Le Mans Series GTE Pro class in 2011, then returned to the European Le Mans Series in 2012 with a Zytek LMP2 car. Class wins at Spa, Silverstone and Le Mans followed over the next few seasons, and the team built a reputation for steady endurance results.
The 2011 season was demanding. Chris Buncombe came in alongside Dolan and Hancock for Silverstone and Le Mans, and the team's best result in the series was fifth in class at Spa and Estoril. Jota had also asked Prodrive to build a pair of AMR-One cars, but the project was cancelled and the cars never arrived.
In 2012 the team raced a Zytek Z11SN Nissan in LMP2. It won its class at Spa but retired from Le Mans after nearly 20 hours, a hard blow for a squad that had worked for the result.
Zytek continued in 2013 with a class win at Silverstone and third overall in the championship. At Le Mans the team finished seventh in class, placed thirteenth overall, and kept its place in the endurance field.
By 2014 the Zytek was in its third consecutive year, and the team took a class win and a fifth-place finish overall at Le Mans. Its European Le Mans Series results included a first, a second and a third, which secured second place in the class championship.
The 2015 season saw a new car, the Gibson 015S with Nissan Nismo power, and the team finished third in the European series. At Le Mans it came second in class and tenth overall, a respectable finish in a demanding year.
How did the sponsorship and WEC years from 2016 onwards unfold?
In 2016 the team announced a sponsorship with the Russian energy company Gazprom, which gained the naming rights and saw the team race as G-Drive Racing in the World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series. The arrangement brought new drivers and a changed identity for the season.
Roman Rusinov, Nathanael Berthon and Rene Rast formed the first WEC driver group. Berthon was replaced by Will Stevens at Le Mans, and Alex Brundle, whose father Martin raced in Formula One, later took the seat alongside Rusinov and Rast.
What did Jota achieve with Jackie Chan DC Racing?
Jota joined forces with Jackie Chan DC Racing in 2017 to field a pair of Oreca 07 LMP2 cars in the World Endurance Championship. The partnership delivered an overall podium at the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans and a second-place finish in the championship for car 38 in 2018 and again in the 2019-2020 season.
In 2017 David Cheng, Alex Brundle and Tristan Gommendy drove car 37, while car 38 featured Ho-Pin Tung with Oliver Jarvis and Thomas Laurent. The line-up changed in 2018, with Jordan King, Will Stevens and David Heinemeier Hansson sharing car 37.
The 2018 season used a winter-style calendar that covered 13 months, moving the championship toward a winter timetable. Car 38 finished second in the standings and car 37 took third, a sign that the two-car effort was competitive across the whole year.
At Le Mans in 2018 car 37 finished eighth overall and car 38 tenth. In 2019 car 37 retired with a gearbox problem, while car 38 finished seventh. The team used the 2019-2020 season, a 15-month programme, to continue its development work.
The pandemic halted racing between February and August 2020. At the 2020 Le Mans race car 38 finished second in class and sixth overall, while car 37, the Jackie Chan DC Racing entry, failed to finish.
How did the 2021 and 2022 seasons deliver the WEC title?
The 2021 WEC returned to a summer schedule. Car 37 became car 28 and was driven by Tom Blomqvist, Sean Gelael and Stoffel Vandoorne, with car 38 keeping Antonio Felix da Costa, Roberto Gonzalez and Will Stevens in its line-up. Car 28 took the runner-up place in its class and eighth overall at Le Mans.
Car 28 finished second in the 2021 WEC standings, with car 38 third. Jota also partnered with Era Motorsport in the Asian Le Mans Series that year, and the pairing finished as LMP2 Am class champions.
The 2022 season produced the team's first WEC title. Car 38 won its class and finished fifth overall at Le Mans, and five podiums from six races gave the team a 21-point lead over the competition. Car 28 finished third in class and seventh overall at the same race.
Why did Jota move to Porsche and then Cadillac?
Jota became Porsche's customer team for the 963 LMDh Hypercar in 2023, racing as Hertz Team JOTA. Its partnership with Cadillac followed in 2025, when the team ran two Cadillac V-Series.R cars as its first official factory entry. The move reshaped the team's identity and its ambitions.
The Hertz deal shaped the team's identity. Its partnership with the former quarterback Tom Brady is the reason for the number 12 on one of the cars. The 2024 season brought two Porsche 963s numbered 12 and 38, and the drivers included Callum Ilott, Norman Nato, Will Stevens, Jenson Button, Phil Hanson and Oliver Rasmussen.
At Spa in 2024 the number 12 car took a surprise win after a red flag restarted the race and a pit-strategy call paid off. It was a moment that showed how quickly a team can change its fortunes on the right day.
Cadillac's arrival brought a new line-up for 2025. Sebastien Bourdais, Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber joined Stevens, Nato and Button, and the team's factory status gave it a different level of support than it had enjoyed before.
Jota Sport season by season
| Season | Highlight |
|---|---|
| 2000 | Team formed; Honda Integra raced at the Nurburgring and Spa 24 Hours |
| 2004 | Zytek 04S bought; sixth overall in the Le Mans Endurance Series |
| 2008 | Jota Sport brand launched with five poles and three wins in Porsche Carrera Cup GB |
| 2013 | Class win at Silverstone; third overall in the European Le Mans Series |
| 2014 | Class win and fifth overall at Le Mans |
| 2017 | Overall podium at Le Mans with Jackie Chan DC Racing |
| 2020 | Car 38 second in class and sixth overall at Le Mans |
| 2022 | First WEC championship, 21 points clear |
| 2024 | Car 12 wins at Spa after a red flag |
| 2025 | Factory entry with Cadillac V-Series.R cars |
What is Jota's legacy?
Jota has moved from a student-run endurance effort to one of the most successful teams in sports car endurance racing. Its WEC title in 2022 and its Le Mans podium in 2017 stand out, and its work with manufacturers such as Aston Martin, Porsche and Cadillac has kept it near the front of the sport.
The long alliance with Zytek is one of the lasting strands of its history. Beginning in 2004, the relationship produced several seasons of strong LMP2 results and helped shape the team's approach to engineering from the start.
Its work with partners such as Jackie Chan DC Racing and, later, Porsche showed that a smaller team could run demanding programmes at the top of the sport. Whether the Cadillac project adds to that record in the Hypercar era is the question the next seasons will answer.
