Tonbridge based Jota Sport gate crashed the podium this weekend at the FIA World Endurance Championship at Spa-Francorchamps.
The British team were only making a guest appearance at the event as part of their preparations for the Le Mans 24 hour race in June.
It was a successful event for them as they finished third in the LMP2 class thanks to a great six hour drive from Simon Dolan, Oliver Turvey and teammate Lucas Luhr.
They were battling at the front end all weekend and it comes just twelve months after they stunned the World Endurance regulars by taking victory at Ardennes. Luhr made his debut in the Zytek-Nissan as he prepares for Le Mans and looked at home.
The former Mclaren Formula One Test Driver Oliver Turvey kicked off the racing and was doing a great job dicing with the top three before a safety car, saw them lose a lap to their class leader.
However, the three drivers stuck to the task in hand and stayed focussed bringing the gap down to just 21 seconds, with around 45 minutes of the race yet to go.
Luhr chased the leaders down and but for a late splash and dash fuel stop he could have been challenging the top two until the end, but he and the team had to settle for an excellent third position.
Speaking after the race about the weekend and their performance Team Principal Sam Hignett, said: “Spa has always been good to Jota Sport and that was the case again this weekend. We showed our pace by qualifying just 0.2sec shy of pole position and backed that up with a well-executed race.
“Of course there was nothing we could do about the untimely Safety Car; sometimes it works for you and others it doesn’t. But I was delighted with the response of our drivers who performed excellently throughout the race. Lucas quickly gelled with Simon and Ollie, so I’m feeling very confident ahead of Le Mans.”
After making his debut in the Zytek-Nissan last weekend Lucas Luhr was a satisfied man, and looked ahead to Le Mans.
He said: “I’ve got mixed emotions really. On the one hand I’m very happy to have scored a podium on debut with the team, Simon and Ollie, but on the other the Safety Car essentially ended our hopes of fighting for victory. There’s always room for improvement and we will certainly keep on pushing so that we have every chance of finishing two steps higher at Le Mans.”
The Jota Sport team have a busy month coming up with round two of the European Le Man Series at Imola on May 17/18. They will also be continuing their preparations for Le Mans at the official test day at the Circuit de la Sarthe on the 9th June.