From student project to Hypercar victory – 25 years of Jota

At the time, Hignett was a university student in materials engineering and the endeavour was funded by co-founder and racing driver John Stack, who shared the driving. These days, Jota Sport is co-owned by former McLaren director David Clark, which is indicative of the talent the organisation has attracted – one of Jota’s current drivers is Jenson Button. In just 25 years, Sam Hignett’s operation has risen quickly through the motorsport ranks.

In its first year Jota competed in a single event, the Nürburgring 24 Hours, using a Honda Integra that had been prepared for the event. In 2001, Jota returned to the Nürburgring with the Honda, and also committed to a whole season of the Renault Clio V6 Cup, which took it all over Europe. It was a way of learning the ropes of Europe-wide motorsport before the team entered sportscar racing – with which it has since become synonymous – the following season.

Still operating on modest budgets, Jota bought a Pilbeam from another team. It had been written off at Spa and the insurance company that covered it had gone out of business, so they were able to acquire it and rebuild it.

En route to its first race, the oil pressure gauge on Jota’s race truck signalled trouble, and the mechanics’ attempts to investigate and fix the problem were curtailed because their tools for the race car simply weren’t big enough for the lorry.

Faced with the options of returning home or hoping the gauge was reading incorrectly, they continued to Estoril and made it to the race. A difficult start, but the following year they finished third in the Sports Car Championship.

With Jota’s profile in the ascendancy, they were approached in 2004 by Zytek to run a Zytek 04S in the Le Mans Endurance Series and, one year later, the team entered the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time. It was at this point that Hignett stopped driving himself to concentrate on team management and fulfilling the team’s potential as a business.

Jota’s relationship with Zytek blossomed. By 2006, it was running the Zytek works team in the Le Mans Endurance Series, the American Le Mans Series and at the 24 Hours itself. At La Sarthe, the team finished a respectable fifth in class and 24^th overall.

The following year, Jota took on the Lola-Judd LMP1 which it ran for Cherouz Racing Systems and, 12 months on, diversified into other categories of sportscar racing. In the 2008 Porsche Carrera Cup GB, the driving duo of Phil Quaife and Goodwood Revival regular Sam Hancock took five pole positions and three race victories to come second in the Championship. All in a year when Jota was simultaneously running the Lola at Le Mans and a Zytek in the American Le Mans Series.

For 2009, Jota started two years of racing a Ligier JS49 and in 2011 it also ran an Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 in the GT Pro class of Le Mans Series. The company was further commissioned to develop a GT4 version of the Mazda MX-5 to compete in Britcar.

It was in 2014 that Jota really made headlines, though. At the Le Mans 24 Hours, it found itself in an 80-lap battle for the LMP2 class lead before a ten-minute pitstop saw them fall out of contention. Not for long, though. Consistent pace and perfect pitstops saw the team claw its way back for a class victory.

By now, the Kent-based team was employing close to 100 people and had a group of companies that included Jota Aviation, Jota Design and Jota Historic. It had come a very long way from that Honda Integra at the Nürburgring.

In 2023 things really stepped up. A deal with Porsche saw Jota take on a 963 Hypercar, the deal structured in such a way that Jota had time to secure funding to make it work. That came from sponsor Hertz, which also resulted in one of the best liveries in recent Le Mans history.

Jota’s 963 was delivered with just days to spare before its first outing at Spa, but it was at that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours where Jota would once again prove its mettle. An electrical fault meant that it couldn’t set a qualifying time so started in 60^th place. By the time night fell, though, it was leading the race. Jota was also running at the front of LMP2 with an Oreca, the first time one team had simultaneously led two categories at Le Mans.

As it transpired, Ferrari won that year, but Jota claimed the Hypercar Teams’ Championship, a feat it repeated in 2024. And as the team celebrates its quarter century, it’s running the Cadillac V-Series.R as a works team in Hypercar for the first time, with a driver line-up that includes former Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button.

Not bad for a team that started out as a means for a student to race his own car.

Images courtesy of Getty Images.