Ilott Banking on Past Experience to Learn Porsche 963

Callum Ilott says he can ‘take bits from everything he’s driven’ throughout his racing career to come to grips with Hertz Team JOTA’s customer Porsche 963 as he prepares for his top class debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

As announced last month, the British driver will join JOTA as part of its expanded Hypercar effort in WEC this coming season, teaming up with Norman Nato and Will Stevens aboard the No. 12 Porsche.

Although the season-opening Qatar 1812km in March will mark Ilott’s full season WEC debut, the Brit told Sportscar365 that he has already sampled the 963 during a test at Qatar’s Lusail International Circuit in November.

The 25-year-old explained he came away from the test with a positive feeling, saying he quickly got up to speed behind the wheel of the Multimatic-chassised prototype.

“I felt very comfortable within the test,” Ilott said.

“I think I can take bits from everything I’ve driven that work well in it. It is a different car but I got to grips with it quite well and understood it quite well.”

Despite being only 25 years old, Ilott can rely on experience from a wide range of racing machinery, including both single seater and closed cockpit cars.

He spent two full seasons racing in the NTT IndyCar Series, drove GT3 machinery in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup as well as the Intercontinental GT Challenge and notably scored a GTE-Am class podium at the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans with Iron Lynx.

Additionally, his time as a test and reserve driver for the Alfa Romeo and Ferrari Formula 1 operations gave him valuable understanding of hybrid machinery.

“Of course there’s little complexities and especially with the world of endurance [there are] things that you wouldn’t have had to learn in a single seater, you’ll have to learn here just because of how long the races are and what you need to do in terms of resets and all of that,” he continued.

“That’s very important, but I think on a driving level, there was nothing immediate that felt like it’s going to take a while.

“Of course, within the complexities of a car like that, there’s a lot to study and a lot to do, but I’m taking to it it quite well and a lot of it is similar to F1 stuff just in different layout and different behaviours.

“I understand why a lot of guys that have come from GT’s feel comfortable in it and actually excel quite well. It’s a heavy car, the weight transfer and the way it behaves, it feels like a faster GT.

“Add to that the complexity of the hybrid, borderline F1-level stuff, it’s a very interesting car between the GT weight feeling but with added downforce, added power, added complexity and different complexities within the braking regen and all that.

“It’s a cool car, but it’s just different to anything I’ve been in before.”

Compared to his two co-drivers, Ilott is relatively inexperienced in endurance racing and specifically lacks mileage in prototypes, with Stevens having already raced the Porsche last year and Nato stepping up to the Hypercar class after a lengthy tenure in LMP2.

To counteract his lack of know-how, Ilott has been seeking the guidance of his teammates in order to flatten his learning curve as much as possible.

“Will, he’s already been a massive help in the test that we did at Qatar,” Ilott said.

“You know that with the car he’s going to be on top of it, guiding you and just pointing you in the right direction. Then to rely on him and Norman for the racing side of things and just helping you out because they’ve been there and done it, it’s great.

“Obviously in the other car we’ve got Jenson [Button], Phil [Hanson] has done a lot in LMP2 and Oliver [Rasmussen] has been quick recently.

“So I think overall it’s great even for Norman and I to have Will and for the other car to have Jenson just with massive experience and feedback also with the car. It makes total sense as a team and it’s going to be strong.”