Stevens: Breakthrough Win Shows JOTA’s Growth

Will Stevens said it was “crazy to see how far we’ve come” as Hertz Team JOTA claimed a breakthrough overall FIA World Endurance Championship victory in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, one year after the team made its Hypercar debut at the same circuit.

Stevens and Callum Ilott steered the No. 12 Porsche 963 to victory by beating Porsche Penske Motorsport in Saturday’s third round of the season, which was extended and restarted after a lengthy red flag after a crash involving Cadillac’s Earl Bamber and BMW LMGT3 driver Sean Gelael.

The result marks a major milestone for the Sam Hignett-led squad, becoming the first privateer team to win in Hypercar since the class was introduced in 2021.

Notably, the victory comes a year after JOTA made its top class debut in WEC after years of success in LMP2, a stat that was not lost on Stevens after the race.

“It was crazy that we were actually at the start of the weekend looking back on where we were at at this point one year ago,” he said.

“To see how far we’ve come as a team, how much we’ve grown, how much we’ve learned, and to obviously get the result we got today one year on, I think is a testament to every single person in the team.

“The amount of work that goes into it from every single member of the team is incredible, and no team deserves this more than them.

“They work so hard and just proud that we can give them this result.

“We have everyone here with the team this weekend, from all the partners, and it’s just a special weekend that it’s happened to be that everyone’s back, everyone’s with the team, and proud to be part of this from the start.

“This result’s been coming. I’ve always said when we execute a perfect race, we should be at the sharp end, and I think today we did that.

“A bit of luck along the way, but I’m a firm believer that you have to create your own luck in this game, and today we got that. When you get that, you need to be there to pick up the pieces.”

JOTA’s fortunes in the race were significantly boosted when Ilott was just one of a few drivers to pit moments before race was stopped when Bamber and Gelael crashed heavily on the Kemmel Straight.

Ilott admitted afterwards that he knew the No. 12 crew was in a good position at the red flag, although their odds remained somewhat in limbo until officials opted to extend the race for the period of the red flag delay.

“For the first couple of minutes I was in the car, waiting and chilling there and you don’t know what the situation is and what needs to be repaired,” said Ilott.

“Obviously thankfully all the drivers are safe and fine, because that area is not a nice place to crash.

“I think once I got back spirits were high because we knew we were in a decent position. The clock started ticking down, I think I was alright, [Will was] alright, our engineer was very upset.

“He’s a passionate Frenchman who felt that we should have been on the right side of that.

“I think once it turned around it’s like, ‘Okay we’ve got an hour and 40 [minutes] to do some work and nothing’s really changed other than we’re in a better window and position than we were.’

“We chipped away at it so I don’t think it’s like one of those things where you have to attack or change the mindset. You just get in and settle it.”

Ilott then managed to hold the No. 6 Porsche 963, driven by points leader Kevin Estre, at bay and extended the gap to 12.363 seconds at the checkered flag.

‘We were a bit weak in some parts of the last sector and Eau Rouge,” Ilott reflected on the battle with Estre.

“So trying to manage the gap there also with the GTs as well. It wasn’t easy, but I knew where I had the advantage and saving the tyre in that area of a little bit of a better gap in some places was crucial.

“I was able to get a bit of an advantage over him on, I think, one traffic situation and then I just kept enlarging the gap from there.

“He put up a good fight at the beginning. I think if he’d have got me at a certain point, it would have been tough to overtake, that’s for sure.”