Callum Ilott remains confident that JOTA has the #12 Porsche 963 “in a good position” ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans despite a Free Practice 2 crash prompting a chassis rebuild, with the car having been recently fired up in the garage ahead of a shakedown on the airfield next to the circuit.
Ilott brought out the red flag in the final moments of Wednesday’s nighttime practice session when a spin caught him out at the esses and the Briton collected the armco.
This prompted a chassis rebuild on the #12 car and it was unable to compete in the following practice sessions and Hyperpole.
Despite this, Ilott told select media including Motorsport Week that with the damage localised to a specific area on the JOTA Porsche, the #12 crew can carry its setup forward into the race.
“We found a pretty good setup in FP2,” Ilott said.
“A lot of the parts fortunately were all okay in the crash.
“It was just really the front end front right corner and the chassis, so everything we can just transfer over. I think it should be fine.
“So we will be in a good position.”
At the time he spoke with the media, Ilott noted that the #12 wasn’t fully rebuilt ahead of a short shakedown planned at a nearby airfield on Friday evening, but he was confident the JOTA Porsche will be ready in time amid praise for his mechanics.
“[The mechanics] have been on a mission,” he said.
“I haven’t yet seen this morning but when I left [at 01:30] it was in good shape.
“I mean some of them are just so so good at what they do.”
Describing his crash, Ilott said “I was pushing, not overdoing it, but pushing and I had a little bit of a slide and then I had a, unfortunately, a big alarm come off on the dash and I got a bit distracted by it in the middle of the slide.
“And yeah, I lost it, overcorrected.
“As I was kind of coming through it sliding a bit, it just gripped up.
“Everything happened at a little bit of the wrong time and I couldn’t get it back.”
Following the crash, Ilott said how he was suffering with “a bit of a sore neck,” and the aftermath has been conveying his apologies to the JOTA mechanics and team
Still, with repairs almost completed, Ilott, a FIA WEC winner last time out in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchams, is looking forward to Saturday’s race start rather than dwelling on past mistakes.
“It was quite a hard hit, so not too bad but at the same time you know annoying and then obviously it’s probably the first time I’ve crashed in [an] endurance environment with the whole team,” Ilott said.
“I felt pretty bad for it all.
“But obviously now that the car is going to be ready and it’s full focus to that and I’ve had to reset and I’m good.”
