Tuesday’s confirmation that Cadillac is joining forces with Hertz Team JOTA in 2025 for a two-car, multi-year FIA WEC Hypercar factory effort serves as a clear statement of intent. Cadillac and General Motors share JOTAโs ambition: they want to win Le Mans, and they want to win it now.
JOTAโs journey to this point has been decades in the making, but the starting gun for this deal was fired at the end of last year. With its first season in Hypercar coming to a close, JOTA was thinking years into the future and made a first approach to Cadillac at a time when it was still pushing to finalize its two-car privateer effort with Porsche for 2024.
โWe were exploring deals,โ team founder Sam Hignett told RACER. “We were speaking to all the manufacturers to see what might come up factory-wise, and conversations then matured as this year went on.โ
This proactive approach paid off. It meant that when it became clear that Ganassi and Cadillac were cutting ties, JOTA was ready to go. The result? After months of discussions and negotiations behind closed doors, both Hignett and David Clark (who co-own the team along with Knighthead Capital and Tom Wagner) now find themselves with the ink dry on a three-year deal to compete with GM in Hypercar starting next season.
Tuesday’s announcement represents a major milestone for an organization that has been chasing a dream of winning Le Mans overall for almost 25 years.
JOTA has had opportunities to win at Le Mans overall in the past, long before it stepped up to Hypercar as a privateer in 2023. But none of its previous programs compare to this one in scale or punch.
Technically, it could have won the Grand Prix of Endurance during a brief stint racing in the early days of LMP1 with Zytek back in 2005. It also operated the Charouz-badged Lola P1 efforts in 2008 and 2009.
Had history played out differently it may even have won the race with Aston Martin. The team placed an order for an AMR One in 2011, but the factory program with the car proved to be ill-fated and JOTA eventually received a full refund from Prodrive before its chassis was delivered.
Then there was 2017. That year it came achingly close (under the Jackie Chan DC Racing banner) to standing on the top step at La Sarthe when โ seemingly out of nowhere โ it found itself leading the race with an LMP2-class ORECA 07 after the LMP1 Hybrids from Porsche and Toyota hit trouble in the blistering heat.
Thatโs all in the past though. Now, JOTA is looking to the future with a deal that will usher in a new era and present it with a true shot at glory in 2025, โ26 and โ27. It also, lest we forget, now has an opportunity to win a World Championship too, with a brand thatโs hungrier than ever for success on a global stage.
โSam and I had been looking for a partner for 10 years to move us on, not just to help out in the short term,โ Clark explained to RACER when asked about the teamโs journey.
โWe needed a partner with the same vision, that we believed in, and we grabbed it immediately. That was Knighthead and Wagner (who bought a stake in the team and introduced a suite of commercial backers).โ
Compared to its major Hypercar rivals โ which includes the likes of Penske, Signatech, AF Corse and WRT โ JOTAโs operation is modest, based in a countryside facility in the south of England that has housed its race programs since 2004. But size isnโt everything. JOTA has long punched above its weight and outgrew its modestly-sized trophy cabinet a long time ago.
A stroll through JOTAโs workshop is all thatโs needed to grasp why Cadillac chose this bold, new direction for its WEC effort. Every shelf and window ledge hosts a major trophy, thereโs artwork and memorabilia plastered on every wall and a beautifully-presented model collection on the mezzanine level illustrates what has been a remarkable journey that dates back to the turn of the century.
This is an outfit that has grown from a grassroots operation eager to make an impact, to a major player in international motorsport with a long-term vision.
JOTA has established a strong reputation for itself over the years, but its recent exploits as a privateer Porsche Hypercar team helped get Cadillac’s attention. JEP/Motorsport Images
Private teams come and go on a yearly basis in endurance racing, but JOTAโs presence has endured. From single-make touring car racing, to a dominant role in LMP2, it has exceeded its targets at each rung on the ladder and passed almost every test with flying colors.
After watching and waiting as the LMP1 Hybrid era came and went, the Hypercar rulesetโs introduction was a turning point. It presented JOTA with an ideal opportunity step up and show manufacturers what it was capable of.
The fast-maturing category, which is governed by BoP, is colossally expensive for private teams, and if you donโt want to build a bespoke chassis options are limited as only Porsche has, thus far, offered customer cars.
However, if you can make it work โ as JOTA has done with commercial nous that secured backing from Hertz, Singer and Tom Brady โ you can fly.
Commercially, its success appealed to Cadillac as it weighed up its options for a new service provider through the first half of this year. But what really moved the needle according to Hignett was both its heritage and recent head-turning performances in Hypercar.
JOTAโs time in Hypercar as a privateer has been a fascinating watch from the start. The team has produced a masterclass in staying relevant, despite competing in a field crammed with factories all fighting for media attention and marketing value.
JOTA has never been in WEC to make up the numbers or in this case, fight solely for the Hypercar World Cup for private teams. Its results and commitment to excellence are proof.
The teamโs No. 12 963 won a race in dramatic fashion back at Spa โ a feat that Cadillac, to this point, has been unable to achieve with its current service provider. It also battled through adversity when that same car crashed out of Free Practice 2 at Le Mans this year. Rather than pack up and focus on its sister car, its mechanics quickly moved to convert a bare tub into a brand new car in time to complete a shakedown on the airfield and take part in the pre-race Warm Up session.
Laura Wontrop-Klauser and the management team around her at GM were locked in negotiations at that point and clearly took note. They ultimately decided that for the V-Series.Rโs third season in competition, it was time to shake things up.
With JOTA as a partner, GM has chosen to invest in expertise from a team that has three Le Mans class wins to its name and a swathe of titles from its campaigns in the FIA WEC, ELMS and Asian Le Mans Series.
โThere was definitely competition to get the deal,โ Hignett told RACER. โI think what weโve done though is put ourselves in a unique position, having competed as a two-car Hypercar team already. We did that because we wanted to be a โplug and playโ option for manufacturers. Thatโs an advantage we had over any other team looking at this opportunity.
โThe commercial element with what we have is obviously of interest, but the bigger element is what weโve done, our success in Le Mans and WEC. Thatโs been our selling point.
โWeโre a tight-knit, longstanding group. We present each team member a watch after Le Mans wins. And we have nine members of staff still with us that have the complete set of three.โ
โI think what makes JOTA a special team,โ Clark continued, โis the way it treats people, and the way it does things. We always treat people with respect.โ
Further evidence of JOTAโs forward thinking is that it was under no immediate pressure to sign a new factory deal for 2025 at any point. The Porsche privateer program would likely have rolled over had Ganassi and Cadillac not split as time was not expiring on its current commercial deals.
Racing under the Jackie Chan DC Racing banner, JOTA led Le Mans as a LMP2 team in 2017 before ultimately settling for a two-three finish behind the No.2 Porsche 919 LMP1 entry. JEP/Motorsport Images
โI think weโd have just continued,โ Hignett explained. โThe goal is to always be at the sharp end in the WEC and LMDh. Weโve got magnificent sponsorship from Hertz and great backing from our partners at Knighthead, the private equity firm.
โFor us the results have been great, you always want to achieve more but to have won a race overall and been on the podium, is great.โ
The Cadillac door did open though and JOTA now finds itself slowly decoupling itself from Porsche.
โWe were honest with Porsche when this progressed, from the beginning,โ Hignett said. โTheyโve been great, helping us achieve what we needed to achieve.โ
โWe have always represented them in a positive way and we are motivated to leave on a big high, because you never know if you want to go back,โ Clark added.
โWhatโs also nice is that Roger Penske (who operates the Porsche factory program) got in touch today after the announcement immediately to wish us well.โ
JOTA wonโt fully take over from Ganassi until after the WEC season finishes in November. But that doesnโt mean there isnโt work ongoing behind the scenes to prepare. The driver roster and the scale of its test program for instance, are currently being finalized.
Even with the deal done plenty of unknowns remain, but what we do know is that both V-Series.Rs are set to be factory cars, driven by factory drivers and JOTA will have a say in who gets the nod.
โWe will definitely have lots of GM people around us, and powertrain people especially,โ Hignett explained. โBut fundamentally, I donโt think there will be massive changes because of the GM support.
โItโs a joint effort between our team and GM. I think you could have your arm forced in some situations like this, but we have an open dialogue and itโs been fantastic.
โThereโs a lot of excitement from our side, about this program and about racing the V-Series.R. Weโve learned a lot from going LMDh racing in WEC and we know this car, weโve competed against it and know itโs strong. Itโs a title-winner and has been on the podium at Le Mans.โ
Looking beyond 2025, with a stable multi-year deal and a major manufacturer behind it, Hignett, Clark and co. can now afford to look the team’s long-term future both in the WEC and further afield.
โThereโs definitely potential to do Daytona,โ Hignett teased. โNot in the near future, because we need to get our act together running the car, but it would be good for us to return there. Next year we will certainly be on site with a presence though, supporting the American Cadillac teams.
โYou get these deals done, but youโve actually got to make it happen and then work. So thereโs an enormous amount of work going on behind the scenes just to get us up and running and competitive as soon as we start next season in Qatar.
โIt will be quite a challenge for us and I donโt think it’s sunk in yet.โ
โWeโve sent a message,โ Clark said. โThe message is to private teams out there and itโs that you can do what weโve done. It is possible
โThe only downside we see is that the โDavid vs Goliathโ aspect goes , as weโve sort of become Goliath now.โ
