Kent based Jota Sport claimed a stunning class victory and an incredible fifth overall in the Le Mans 24 Hours at the weekend.

Simon Dolan, Harry Tincknell and Oliver Turvey steered their JOTA Sport Zytek Z11SN to LM P2 category honours in the 82nd running of the gruelling twice-around-the-clock sportscar endurance race in France.

The Dolan/Tincknell/Turvey Zytek clocked up 356-laps equating to 3,016-miles at an average speed of 125.14mph in the world’s toughest sportscar race.

The JOTA team from Frant, near Tunbridge Wells, finished one-lap ahead of its nearest rival in the ultra-competitive 17-car LM P2 field to mark the British team’s eighth appearance at Le Mans in exceptional style.

Tincknell started the race from second in class on Saturday afternoon thanks to his stunning qualifying performance on Thursday evening – the Le Mans debutant deprived of “pole” position by a mere 0.065secs and he made a blistering start to lead.

All three British drivers drove faultless and consistently fast laps during their stints behind the wheel of the British-built Zytek sportscar running on Dunlop tyres.

The only unscheduled pit-stop occurred early in the race to repair some bodywork costing a seven-minutes.

Turvey had only flown out to join the team on Thursday morning after a last minute call-up after Marc Gené, Audi Sport’s “reserve” driver who had been loaned to JOTA, was recalled by the German team. Oliver had not sat in the JOTA Zytek since last September while last weekend’s race was his first of the year.

“I can’t put my feelings into words – it’s like I am going to wake up from an incredible dream. I never thought it was possible to come back after our dramas with the bodywork early on.” said Dolan at the end of the day.

“Harry did an amazing job on his Le Mans debut – the team is stunned by his pace, consistency and maturity. Meanwhile considering Oliver’s last minute call-up, he drove absolutely brilliantly for us.”

“I am also happy with the way I drove with no real errors. I think it is the first Le Mans that I have done where I have really enjoyed driving and that was a nice feeling to actually go out and have fun. To finish fifth overall at Le Mans is something I’d never contemplated – I’m stunned.”

JOTA Sport’s next race is the third round of the European Le Mans Series at the Red Bull Ring on 20 July.

Dolan, Tincknell and Filipe Albuquerque (P) plus JOTA Sport are placed second in the Drivers’ and Team’s standings going into the four hour race in Austria.

Photo by: Eric Gilbert