Jota Sport will not participate in the post-season World Endurance Championship testing in Bahrain, as it will focus on its factory programme with Cadillac.
Team principal Dieter Gass revealed that it is “very unlikely” that Jota will take part in the official one-day test at the Bahrain International Circuit on November 3, which follows the final round of the season.
This means that the Bahrain 8 Hours will be the last time the Porsche 963 will race in the colours of Jota’s title sponsor Hertz.
The move will allow Jota to focus more on preparing for the 2025 WEC season, when it will replace Chip Ganassi Racing as Cadillac’s works team. The British firm is also in talks with the General Motors brand to run the car privately before the end of the year.
The test will take place after the season finale in Bahrain, when Cadillac will also end its partnership with Ganassi in the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
“We are discussing it, but it’s not final yet,” Gass told Motorsport.com when asked when the team will be able to run the Cadillac LMDh. “Not before the end of the season, but hopefully before the end of the year.”
Gass explained that there are several hurdles that Jota and Cadillac must overcome to organize a test together this year.
“It’s more about peripherals. We should be able to have the machine, but we also need all the tools to run it, the spare parts and everything else. So we need to be as prepared as possible before we start working on it.”
#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Jota has been running Porsche 963 LMDhs as a customer since 2023 and took an overall victory at Spa in May this year, sealing the championship for private Hypercar teams with a race to spare.
News that Jota will become Cadillac’s new factory team for the WEC was made official in August, when it was also announced that the team will enter two V-Series.R cars in 2025.
Gass added that there would be no contractual issues with Porsche regarding testing, as Jota prepares to begin a new chapter in his illustrious history with General Motors.
“What we have to look at is the sporting regulations and what is allowed to test and things like that,” he said. “With Porsche I don’t foresee any problems.”
Sharing engineers
Cadillac has a strong presence in IMSA, where both Ganassi and Action Express Racing each run one example of the V-Series.R in the GTP class.
The North American championship will hold its final round of the season, the Petit Le Mans, at Road Atlanta on October 12, three weeks before the WEC title-deciding race in Bahrain.
Asked if there are plans to send Jota engineers to an IMSA race to get a feel for how the V-Series works, Gass said: “It’s very likely that something like that will happen. With testing, yes, but we have to see if it’s possible in racing as well.”
#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
“Again, everything has to be confirmed, but I think there will also be a personnel exchange and potentially American engineers will join us. For us, with the personnel restrictions, it’s maybe not so easy to go to IMSA to not have problems with the regulations. But for testing and things like that, it’s likely to happen.”
In IMSA, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti will leave the Acura stable in 2025 to replace Ganassi as one of Cadillac’s factory teams.
The company, which has a long history with the American brand, will field two cars in GTP next year, while AXR will continue to race with just one car.
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