Tunbridge Wells based Jota Sport missed out on a shot at victory during last weekend’s European Le Mans Series race in Austria.

It was a 30 second stop go penalty that resulted in their car that was leading the race dropping down the field.

They were returning to ELMS action for the first time since their last race at Le Mans and drivers Simon Dolan and Oliver Turvey were both eager to get their title challenge back on track after a brief hiatus.

It all began well for the team with Turvey managing to secure their third pole position in as many races. They benefited from Signatech-Alpine’s pole position lap time being wiped out as they had set it under caution flags.

At the start of the three hour race Turvey was behind the wheel and was building a healthy lead over their rivals in second place. At the team’s first pit stop saw them have a ten second lead and looking good for a race win.

However, it was this pit stop that would cost them their chance at victory when the rev limiter didn’t engage heading into the pits, and Turvey would creep marginally over the speed limit, they were then hit with a 30 second stop go penalty. In reality the 30 second stop go penalty would end up costing the team around a minute.

When Turvey handed over to his team mate Dolan they were in fifth place, and Dolan himself would manage to make up one position, securing valuable points in the battle for the Championship.

Speaking after the race a disappointed Turvey, said: “Qualifying went really well and it was great to get pole again – three from three in the ELMS is certainly very satisfying for the whole team. Come the race I was able to build a great lead, but unfortunately everything went wrong at the first stop.

“I thought the limiter had engaged and of course when I realised it hadn’t I immediately slowed down again. However that cost us very dearly as the penalty added over a minute to our race time, which all but ruled us out of contention.

“It’s very frustrating, but ultimately we can only look at the positives: the pace was excellent and Simon drove extremely strongly when I handed over to him, so there’s plenty to build on going forward.”