Stevens: Sebring Win Comes “At An Exciting Time” For JOTA

HERTZ Team JOTA’s Will Stevens says he hopes his winning start to the 2023 FIA WEC season with Yifei Ye and David Beckmann at Sebring is just the beginning of the team’s achievements in 2023.

This campaign is set to be a memorable one for the long-standing British LMP2 team, which is set to move up into the Hypercar ranks at Round 3 of the championship at Spa, with a Porsche 963 chassis. There, Stevens is set to share the car with Ye and Antonio Felix da Costa, as part of the first start for a 963 customer team.

Speaking with DSC after his dramatic LMP2 victory in Sebring, he explained that that getting track time in Florida and working with Ye, who is new to JOTA, has been really important ahead of the start of the team’s Hypercar programme.

“We need to be patient,” he said. “We are aiming to have Spa as the first race with the LMDh car, but being in the USA was important for HERTZ, so it was key for us to get this journey off to a good start.”

Next time out in Portimao, the team plans to rotate its line-up. Ye will continue to partner with David Beckmann, but Stevens will make way for Antonio Felix da Costa, who will get some track time in at his home track before the 963’s rollout. Stevens, meanwhile, will take a supporting role with JOTA in Portugal.

It’s strange.That was my last race in LMP2

“It’s strange. For me, that was my last race in LMP2,” he told DSC. “David was really impressive in his first race, he’s done a really solid job. Yifei (Ye) was superb too. I look forward to working with him in the future.

“I will be in Portimao with the team because there’s much more to do each weekend for our new partners, and it’s part of my role to help Yifei get more up to speed with how we operate as a team. It makes sense to do it this way.”

With Sebring in the rearview mirror, Stevens can now properly focus on the next step for the team. Competing at Le Mans for the overall win in a Hypercar will be most significant start in his career since his F1 days.

the car is currently being built right now in Weissach, and we have our seat fit scheduled very shortly

“It’s a really exciting time for us as a team,” he explained. “We have big brands on board, pushing us into the Hypercar category where we will race against major manufacturers. At Le Mans we will be the only customer car in the top class. But we believe we can execute and get the most we can out of the package we will have.

“We won’t underestimate the challenge, but we are very much looking forward to seeing how we fare against the manufacturers.

“The car is currently being built right now in Weissach, and we have our seat fit scheduled very shortly. It’s full steam ahead to Spa for us. It is likely going to be a very difficult weekend for us, it will be our rollout as a team with the car. But anything we can achieve before Le Mans will be a big help.

“Between Spa and Le Mans we will then get as much testing in as we can. We need to get up to speed and understand the car. It’s considerably more complex and requires a lot more work and focus not just for us drivers behind the wheel, but also the engineers. We are doing as much as we can on sims to prepare for this. We can’t wait.”

Featured image courtesy of JOTA