"I think we've achieved all we could have achieved, as a customer team to Porsche."
These were JOTA director Sam Hignett's words when I asked him to assess JOTA's era as Porsche customer team.
Looking at 2024 specifically, when the British team really started to come into its own in the FIA World Endurance Championship's Hypercar class, Hignett said, "I think there were some outside hopes of more success in the overall championship, going into Le Mans.
"If we could have you know pulled a result out the bag in Le Mans, we would have been in great shape," he continued.
"I think we were second in the championship going into Le Mans. It's quite unfortunate, but Le Mans bit us, as it tends to do, so that didn't happen. But yeah, if we look at our expectations on January the 1st this year, I think we've fulfilled what we were hoping to."
Meanwhile, David Clark, JOTA director alongside Hignett, told me, "I think it's quite a special thing, as a Porsche customer, even though you have to pay. But, it's a special experience and I think it's something... it's one of those things, when you're younger, you always want to run a Porsche at Le Mans."
Winning races and 'world cups'
The team took its first WEC overall win at Spa this year, after a red flag benefitted the #12 car as it had pitted shortly before the red flag, whereas many of its rivals still needed to pit.
"There was a huge portion of luck that put us in a position to win it," said Hignett, "but at the end of the race, but we were able to control the pace and Callum was able to drive away from the Penske cars and the rest of the field."
More wins haven't been forthcoming for JOTA this season, however. Like other teams, they've struggled to run in traffic, with Hignett hinting it's impeded further progress.
"Once you're out front, it's generally easier to lead. That's a feature of this current Hypercar racing," said Hignett.
"The car wasn't working brilliantly in traffic," he continued.
"These cars are very susceptible to traffic, and we were struggling in all honesty in the traffic.
"I think we had a top six car, as we generally do most weekends, but we didn't have the outright pace to win.
"To run these cars legally and be good in traffic is very difficult. It's very easy to run the car slightly illegally, and be stunningly fast, as we've seen others do.
"But that's not going to do you any good if you win the thing at the end of the race. So yeah, running the car legally and in traffic is difficult. Once you're out front, that's the real mark of how good the car is," the Briton concluded.
JOTA also took the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams with the #12 car, beating the satellite #83 AF Corse Ferrari entry, driven by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and Robert Shwartzman.
Mohammed Rehman
When asked how it felt to beat AF Corse to the title, Hignett did not hold back.
"I mean, it's the third factory Ferrari," he said, grinning.
"So yeah, definitely feels good. But no, it's nice. That's a good driver lineup, in what's clearly a fantastic car, run by a brilliant team, so to be able to beat them, that's great.
"They had a reliability issue at Le Mans, but even if they'd have been in the mix at Le Mans, I think we would still beat them in the championship, which is great."
A new challenge next year
In 2025, JOTA will face a new challenge: running a factory programme on behalf of a manufacturer. In this case, the manufacturer is American giant Cadillac.
This has been a long time coming for the British team, but a necessary step, Hignett told The Racing Line.
"We were in this conundrum of being a very successful LMP2 team, but up against a glass ceiling," he said.
"There was nowhere for us to go. And so when we saw the new regulations, these Hypercar regulations, it was obvious that there was an opportunity for us.
"But we just needed to pick up a manufacturer to be able to do what we wanted to do with that opportunity."
However, initially, JOTA didn't find the manufacturer contract it desired. This, though, didn't turn out to be such a bad thing.
"It was the reason we went down the private route, where we didn't end up with a factory. Our only option really, especially with the demise of LMP2 in WEC, was to to try and do it privately.
"This has been a great exercise, because it built the commercial engine in the team, and enabled us to stand on our own two feet and achieve what we've discussed previously."
The lack of a manufacturer contract in the 'first wave' of Hypercar wasn't for lack of trying, though.
"We'd always had dialogue with literally all of the manufacturers," said Hignett.
"And then a year or so ago, the conversations with Cadillac seemed to accelerate a bit, since their existing supplier was getting to the end of their contract.
"So we kept the conversation going and they'd seen what we'd achieved obviously. Our commercial success is very appealing to them, so bringing the whole thing together has landed us with the two-car factory program."
From LMP2 to factory partnership
But how exactly does a team like JOTA, who a few years ago was one of a number of 'LMP2 superteams', go about getting a valuable factory contract?
"We prepared a document to take to all the manufacturers," Hignett explained.
"What our expectations will be, and what we're currently doing in LMP2, in terms of R&D, etc, etc.
"And I think there wasn't a single manufacturer that we sat in front of that wasn't blown away by the level that LMP2 was at.
"It wasn't just us doing it. United were doing it, WRT, Prema to some extent.
"So the reality is, we were a small LMDh team at the end of the LMP2 era and we're still a small LMDh team today. So, there hasn't been a significant change in that respect."
The Cadillac programme, though, will probably change the team in terms of how it operates.
'There's a lot more involvement from the manufacturer," said the JOTA team principal, when I asked whether the partnership with Cadillac will cause the team to grow.
"Currently we have arm's length, literally, involvement from the manufacturer. And now it will be very much hands-on with the manufacturer in terms of all the development and everything we do."
Clark, meanwhile, didn't mince his words.
"I think it's a great thing for Cadillac that they've got JOTA," he said.
"Let me just say that, not just because I'm part of JOTA, but I think... look at Mercedes. They they could have come into Grand Prix racing like Toyota. But they get a team created by Toto Wolff. And the rest is history.
"I think the combination of that is the feeling that we have with Cadillac. It's a very strong feeling. It's not the onslaught of an enormous corporation."
In the past, Cadillac's factory partners have typically been American-run teams. JOTA is, obviously, British.
"I don't think so at all," Clark answered when asked if this 'across the pond' relationship may be tricky to navigate.
"I think it would only not be a problem, but be a bit more difficult if we were going the other way. If we were going to the U.S to do IMSA, it would be more difficult as we found out a few years ago.
"And I think that's because you just don't know all the little things about the people and all the politics and things to do in America. But coming this way, no. I think it's a really, really positive thing for us and for Cadillac."
JOTA made one attempt on the IMSA Sportscar Championship, the 2018 24 Hours of Daytona. They finished fifth overall, four laps off the winning Cadillac — not so bad, it seems.
However, Hignett and Clark clearly do not have fond memories.
"All I can say," said Hignett, "is that when we went and turned up [at Daytona, in 2018] thinking we were all that, with a stunning driver lineup, to do the Daytona 24 Hours. It was a disaster. We might as well have gone rallying. It was so different.
"Hats off to the likes of United. It was completely alien racing, even the same chassis. The rules, the way everything works, no hardware works because of the different voltage."
Finally, then: the aim is obvious for JOTA and Cadillac next year.
"Winning Le Mans would do it!" said Clark.
"Our aim is to win everything we can," he continued.
"If you don't have that ambition, you probably shouldn't be doing it. We're a very ambitious team. We're also bringing a lot to Cadillac, as well as the other way around," concluded the JOTA director.