#JOTA 963

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[sixcylinderdean]

Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963, 6 Hours of Spa 2023 [x]

[premasindycardreams]

I suppose I’ll need a new name on here soon …

[saraw4ters]

[motorsportverso]

Vettel em conversações com Jota para correr no WEC em trio com Jenson Button e Robert Kubica na Hypercar 

O 5x campeão da F1,está em conversações para correr no FIA WEC com Jota em Porsche 963 em trio com Button e Kubica provavelmente no segundo carro que a equipe vai ter em 2024 ,já que a equipe temporada atual corre com na LMP2 que não vai ter na categoria no ano que vem.

Button já vai correr na última etapa do IMSA  nas 10h “Petit LeMans” em Road Atlanta com a JDC Miller Motorsports em dupla com Mike Rockenfeller e Tijmen van der Helm.

Kubica na temporada atual do Fia WEC ganhou as 6h de Fuji na LMP2 com Team WRT e fez pole na categoria nas 6h de Spa.

[umseb]

What speaks for a Le Mans start?

Sebastian Vettel could compete in Le Mans with Porsche as early as 2024. The former Formula 1 world champion impressed in the first test. There are increasing signs of a racing comeback for the German. Porsche has postponed the planned announcement of the driver pairing of the third car for Le Mans.

Sebastian Vettel was abstinent for fifteen months. Apart from a few demonstration laps in a Williams FW14B at Silverstone and a Red Bull RB7 at the Nürburgring, the four-time world champion stayed away from the race track, but the thoroughbred racing driver regularly admitted that he misses racing. That's why his name was mentioned again and again when an attractive door opened-or seemed to open-in Formula 1, just like at Mercedes next year. The transfer of Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari frees up a cockpit at Mercedes, and of course Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff and Vettel were already in contact. The Heppenheimer also has his eye on the World Endurance Championship (WEC) with Porsche. On March 21st, Vettel took part in the roll-out test of the third Le Mans car in Weissach. The 36-year-old shared the cockpit with Porsche works driver Laurens Vanthoor. The Belgian drove two stints of twenty laps each, after which Vettel took over the Porsche hypercar for several runs between ten and fifteen laps.

Vettel fast straight away

According to information from our sister magazine, Motorsport aktuell, Vettel was on the same lap time level as Vanthoor after just fifteen laps. First conclusion: Vettel was immediately competitive at raw speed, and he also impressed with good feedback. The second stage of the test plan was then initiated: Vettel and five other works drivers will take part in a 36-hour test at the Spanish Motorland Aragón racetrack from March 25th to 27th, which was planned as preparation for Le Mans. The test is intended to evaluate how the 53-time GP winner copes with the 700 hp LMDh car in the dark. Vettel wants to use the test to find out whether the LMDh class cars will rekindle the fire in him. With a curb weight of 1,030 kilograms, the hybrid racers are significantly heavier than a Formula 1 car and have less power, but with hybrid technology and biofuel, they fit into the green world view of the man in the cockpit. The first impression behind the wheel of the Porsche 963 already left a clear mark on the thoroughbred racing driver from Heppenheim: "I'm looking forward to testing the Porsche and have already had the opportunity to get to know the car a little in Weissach. I've always had other racing series, and my curiosity for long distances encouraged me to just give it a try. Now I'm excited about the endurance run in Aragón and am looking forward to my time behind the wheel. It will definitely take some adjustment and some getting used to, but the whole team is very open and helps me with that. We'll see what happens next. At the moment there are no further plans for the future."

Porsche postpones driver announcement

After that, at the latest, a decision must be made as to whether Vettel will be included in Porsche's Le Mans squad. The Penske team will compete at Le Mans in 2024 with three cars: the two WEC cars plus an additional 963, which so far only has Mathieu Jaminet named. The original plan was for Jaminet to share the Porsche with Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy. The trio should have been confirmed this week on Thursday, March 28, but that announcement was postponed. This suggests that there is a real chance that Vettel could still jump on the Le Mans bandwagon. The Heppenheimer is still keeping the ball low: "We'll see how things continue. At the moment there are no further plans for the future." Theoretically, it would be possible for Vettel to contest one of the two World Championship races in Imola or Spa, although not with the works cars, but with the two customer teams, Proton Competition or Jota Hertz Racing. Vettel would obviously like to drive a test race because this is the only way to optimally prepare for a race at Le Mans. As expected, there is no doubt about Vettel in terms of driving, but a test race would allow him to get a feel for the demanding traffic situation in endurance racing, where the fast hypercar top cars share the track with the much slower GT3 cars.

Further Porsche tests possible

Because of the great competition in the field, the sports prototypes are now the second most attractive racing series in the world. In Aragon, Vettel also gets to know the competition straight away. It's not just Porsche that is preparing for Le Mans. Alpine with Mick Schumacher has also registered on the Spanish route. If everything goes well, Vettel could complete a third test soon: Porsche will drive in Spa on April 5th and 6th, and there is also the possibility of another 36-hour test on April 10th and 11th at the French track Le Castellet, even if Porsche has not yet officially registered for the test. The decision on a Le Mans start must be made by mid-April at the latest. The Porsche board is said to be enthusiastic about the idea of ​​Vettel driving with Porsche at Le Mans as early as 2024.

Porsche against seven manufacturers

The Stuttgart team won the first race of the season in Qatar with the 963. The WEC is enjoying particular attention this year because eight manufacturers are represented: Porsche, Ferrari, Toyota, Peugeot, BMW, Cadillac, Alpine and Lamborghini. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is even more than usual one of the big motorsport highlights of the year. Another large car company, Aston Martin, is expected to join in 2025. There are persistent rumors about a McLaren entry. For Porsche, Vettel's testing is a prestigious experience. The example of Alonso at Toyota and Hülkenberg at Porsche shows what advertising value the deployment of a Formula 1 driver on foreign terrain can have. Thomas Laudenbach, Head of Porsche Motorsport, is pleased that the former champion is showing interest in Porsche's long-distance activities: "There was no question for us that we would be happy to support his request for a test opportunity and provide him with extensive preparation and sufficient time. We can certainly learn a lot from his valuable feedback. Our 36-hour endurance run with our factory drivers in Motorland Aragón offers a perfect environment for this."

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February 23, 2024 - Losail International Circuit in Lusail, Qatar -NATO Norman (fra), ILOTT Callum (gbr), STEVENS Will (gbr), Hertz Team Jota, Porsche 963, during the Prologue of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (by Javier Jimenez / DPPI)

[ummick]

Schumacher "Had A Lot of Fun" On Way To First Alpine Podium

Mick Schumacher revels in first podium since his F2 days as Alpine claims breakthrough top-three...

Mick Schumacher says he had a "lot of fun" in the closing stages of the 6 Hours of Fuji as he battled his way to a first podium in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Alpine. Alongside his co-drivers in the No. 36 Alpine A424, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxivière, Schumacher finished third in Sunday's penultimate round of the season in Japan after passing Hertz Team JOTA's Norman Nato in the closing stages. Prior to Fuji, the No. 36 crew's best finish of the season had been ninth at the Circuit of the Americas, while Alpine as a whole had not finished higher than fifth. As well as Alpine's first podium, it also marked Schumacher's first top-three finish in any category since the Sochi round of his title-winning Formula 2 season in 2020. "We had some really close battles, and I'm getting more confidence of how to fight in WEC," Schumacher told reporters post-race. "I wasn't expecting it to be that hard, but the cars are pretty robust and it seems like the good old days in karting. It's been a lot of fun out there. It's been a while since I've been on the podium. I didn't really know what to do anymore, it's been so long! But I'm really happy."

Schumacher's battle against Nato was helped by the fact his Alpine had been equipped with two new tires at the final round of pit stops, while JOTA had sent both of its Porsche 963s back out without changing tires in a bid to gain track position. "We had two new tires on the left-hand side, so I knew I had the tire advantage and it was a matter of time until I positioned myself in the right spot," added Schumacher. "I have to say I was a bit afraid of the Peugeot at the end, as they had good pace in the last stint with four new tires, but we managed ourselves well. The team did a great job and I think we can be really happy." Schumacher conceded that the No. 36 crew lacked the pace of the sister No. 35 Alpine, which looked on course for at least third before Charles Milesi picked up a drive-through penalty in the final hour for contact with an LMGT3 car. "We started off [the weekend] with, in my opinion, the worst car we've had this year," said the German. "We were not confident. Number 35 seemed to be a bit better and the number 36 struggled a bit more for some reason, and you could see that in the pace. There is still homework to do; some digging on our side to see if something is different."

[unhinged-racing-confessions]

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/unhinged-racing-confessions/771998708688683008

what is this anon on about??? wec lineups* got announced MONTHS ago. estre and vanthoor in the 6 car with matt campbell for le mans and a couple of other races. michael christensen and julien andlauer in the 5 with mathieu jaminet for le mans and a couple of other races. andré and fréd are both gone, to genesis and alpine respectively

while porsche are able to bring a third car to le mans (due to winning in imsa last season) they have not confirmed they will. if they do it'll likely have nick tandy and felipe nasr in, though there are several options for that third driver including antonio felix da costa, or pascal wehrlein. crucially, both of them are active drivers and by the time le mans comes around they will both have had race experience in the 963 what with antonio spending 2023 driving in wec for former 963 customer team hertz team jota, and pascal doing daytona this month

why are vettel fans soooooooo obsessed with him making a comeback? he's been retired for how many years now? this is a man who got a chance to test in the 963 and he couldn't even be bothered to complete it, but vettel fans would have you believe that porsche are at his door on hands and knees just begging for him to come and save them. he's busy riding bikes, being weirdly obsessed with senna, and running his sailing team. why is that not enough for you? why do you insist he deserves a highly coveted seat, at a top team, at one of the biggest sporting events of the year? he hasn't been a world champion in over a decade so please don't use that as proof of anything. gimme anything from the last five years that says he deserves that spot over anybody else

*before anon gets their hopes up, their factory team lineups have been confirmed for imsa too, including for daytona. proton competition have not confirmed a full lineup anywhere yet and the jdc-miller motorsports lineup is full

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[dreamcars-fan]

Porsche 963 of Jota Sport restores an old Joest tradition of beating the factory team at their own game (1650x550)

[opelman]

W. Stevens /N. Nato / C. Ilott (Porsche 963 / Hertz Team Jota) by S. Le Bozec Via Flickr: 24 Heures du Mans 2024

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[sixcylinderdean]

Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963 Hypercar, 6 Hours of Spa 2023. [x]

[racing-is-passion]

Vettel comeback in 2024?

It seems like Sebastian Vettel could be back on the racetrack next year. But not in an F1 car, but in a Hypercar in Le Mans, maybe even the entire WEC season. There are rumors around that he will test drive the Porsche 963 Hypercar from the british JOTA team and start in next years 24 hours of Le Mans. There are also rumors that he might even drive the entire WEC season for JOTA. Vettel himself hasn't really denied a comeback, as he now said to the german magazine "Auto Motor und Sport": "So far, nothing has been signed or decided, but I have it in the back of my mind. I still have time to make a decision."

So maybe next year there will be Mick Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Valentino Rossi racing in Le Mans?

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[motorsportverso]

Porsche Entrega os 963 LMDH Das equipes Hertz Team Jota e JDC Miller Motorsports