Jota completes Le Mans airfield shakedown of rebuilt Porsche

Porsche privateer Jota has completed a successful airfield shakedown of its rebuilt 963 LMDh ahead of the Le Mans 24 Hours this weekend.

The #12 Jota entry was put through its paces on the Le Mans-Arnage Airport adjacent to the track on Friday evening by Callum Ilott, who crashed the car in second free practice for the centrepiece World Endurance Championship round on Wednesday night.

It followed a record-breaking build of a 963 by the British Jota squad: team principal Sam Hignett revealed that it normally takes three weeks to complete the process.

Ilott, who shares the #12 Porsche with Will Stevens and Norman Nato, expressed satisfaction with the straightline runs for which Jota was given special dispensation by the race stewards.

“Everything looks good, feels good; I think we are ready to roll,” said Ilott of the 30-minute run.

“It was a little wet out there and obviously we had to build up slowly.

“Even though the shakedown was short, it was great to get a little mileage in the car and check the systems.”

#12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: William Stevens, Norman Nato, Callum Ilott, shakedown at the Le Mans Airport

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Ilott also paid tribute to the Jota crew that built up the car around a new monocoque in little more than 24 hours, describing their efforts as “heroic”.

“A huge thank you to Jota for its determination and team spirit,” he said.

“It’s humbling and makes me proud to be part of this family.”

Jota needed to re-tub the quickest of its 963s, in which Ilott had earlier made it through to Hyperpole with eighth place in opening qualifying.

Ilott’s impact with the barriers broke an insert stud on the mounting of the bottom right front wishbone.

Porsche supplied a replacement monocoque - one of two it brings to European WEC races - and then transferred all the running gear, including the powertrain, and the bodywork to the new tub.

This is demanded by Le Mans and WEC regulations, which preclude the use of spare cars.

Stevens is scheduled to drive the car in the 15-minute warm-up at 1200, four hours before the traditional 1600 start of the race at Le Mans.