While waiting for Cadillac, Jota should miss the Bahrain tests

Jota is not expected to take part in the World Endurance Championship post-season testing in Bahrain, in order to concentrate on his factory program with Cadillac.

The team director, Dieter Gass, revealed that he was “unlikely” that Jota will take part in the official one-day test in Bahrain on November 3, which will follow the final round of the season. The 8 Hours of Bahrain will therefore be the last outing of the Porsche 963 under the colors of Hertz, title sponsor of Jota.

The move is intended to allow the team to focus on preparing for the 2025 WEC season, during which it will replace Chip Ganassi Racing as Cadillac’s factory outfit in the championship. The British outfit is also in talks with the General Motors brand to run the car in private testing before the end of the year.

These tests would take place after the WEC season finale, by which time Cadillac will also have already concluded its partnership with Ganassi in the IMSA championship. “We are discussing it. It is not finalized yet”Gass told Motorsport.com when asked when the team would be able to run the Cadillac LMDh. “Before the end of the season, no. [Avant] the end of the year, I hope.”

Gass explained that Jota and Cadillac had to overcome a number of obstacles to achieve this: “It’s more a question of ‘periphery’ [qu’autre chose]”he declared. “We should be able to have a car, but we have to have all the tools to be able to drive, the spare parts and everything else. So we have to prepare all that, and then we can start looking into it.”

Jota has been operating the Porsche 963 LMDh as a customer since 2023 and scored a victory at Spa last May. News that the team would become Cadillac’s new factory team for the WEC was made official in August, when it was also announced that it would enter two V-Series.Rs in 2025.

Gass added that there would be no contractual issues with Porsche regarding testing, as Jota prepares to begin a new chapter in its illustrious history with General Motors. “What we need to look at is the sporting regulations and what you are allowed to test and other things like that. With Porsche I don’t predict any problems.”

Three weeks before the WEC finale will be Petit Le Mans, the final round of the IMSA season. The opportunity for Jota to possibly send personnel to America in order to gain knowledge about the Hypercar, which will be engaged there: “It’s entirely possible that something like this could happen.”explained Gass. “[Pour] the tests [ce sera le cas]you have to see [si c’est possible pour les] courses [également].”

“All this still needs to be confirmed, but I think there will also be an exchange of personnel [et] that American engineers will potentially join us. For us [en WEC]with staffing restrictions it may not be as easy as [voir nos ingénieurs] take part in IMSA, so as not to have problems with the rules. But for testing and things like that, that’s what’s probably going to happen.”