Motorsport News

Hertz Team JOTA Takes Over WEC Cadillac Program for 2025

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Cadillac Racing announced Tuesday (Aug. 6) that they will expand to two full-time Cadillac VSeries.R LMDh prototypes in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar class in 2025. However, those cars will be with a new organization.

The two full-time Cadillacs will race in 2025 for Hertz Team JOTA, replacing Chip Ganassi Racing. The new squad will be known as Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA next season.

“Cadillac is proud to be racing against the best in the world as part of the FIA World Endurance Championship, and that includes Hertz Team JOTA,” stated John Roth, Cadillac Global’s vice president. “We are thrilled to welcome Hertz Team JOTA next year, bringing decades of racing and technical expertise together, to achieve continued success on the track and create new advocates for our brand around the globe.”

The move means that JOTA Sport will be a full-fledged prototype factory outfit for the first time. Previously, the team had been one of the best privateer operations in European sports car racing. Up until this year, they were one of the longest tenured LMP2 teams, having competed in the class since 2004.

“JOTA has always strived to become a manufacturer team, so now joining forces with Cadillac is the realization of this goal,” said Sam Hignett, Hertz Team JOTA founder and director. “Having competed against the Cadillac V-Series.R for the last two seasons, we have experienced how competitive it is and we are genuinely honored to be entrusted with fielding its cars from 2025 onward. We are in the privileged position to have enjoyed record-breaking success in the FIA World Endurance Championship, especially at Le Mans, and we are very much looking forward to continuing this success with Cadillac and Hertz.”

Hertz Team JOTA currently fields two customer Porsche 963s in the Hypercar class. The No. 12 shared by Callum Ilott and Will Stevens won the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps earlier this year and currently sits sixth in points. The No. 38 has struggled for much of the year and is currently 17th.

Cadillac’s current full-time program in the WEC is a single Cadillac VSeries.R that is being run by Chip Ganassi Racing. Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn are the full-time drivers, while Sebastien Bourdais and INDYCAR racer Alex Palou have served as third drivers this year. Bamber and Lynn are currently 13th in points with a best finish of seventh at Le Mans.

No drivers were officially announced for the effort, but the…

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