JACKIE CHAN DC RACING X JOTA SPORTREADY FOR NEW CHALLENGE AT SPA

by Press / Ho-Pin Tung · May 2, 2018

Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport embraces its new challenge for the2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) with their new driver line-upfor the season-opening 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium this weekend.

The previous season marked an astonishing start of the new partnership between Jackie Chan DC Racing and JOTA Sport, who together achieved a stunning Le Mans 24 Hours victory and second place in LMP2 class and double podium overall. It was great misfortune to miss the WEC LMP2 championship title only for things out of control.

Having accomplished a positive official Prologue at Circuit Paul Ricard,with around 2830km of mileage under its belt and useful information collectedduring the two-day pre-season test, the 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours-winning team is ready for the new campaign with full confidence and refreshed ambitions headingto the opening round of the 2018-19 WEC Super Season.

The two ORECA-Gibson 07s operated by JOTA Sport will return to the competition in the first of eight endurance races that will decide the 2018-19WEC LMP2 class title.

Behind the wheel, the first-ever full Malaysian-driver line-up in WEC history with Nabil Jeffri, Jazeman Jaafar and Weiron Tan in the car#Fortunecat37 will make their competitive debut in the top-class endurance racing.

In the sister car #Mighty38, the core driver of the Anglo-Chinese teamHo-Pin Tung will return to the cockpit of the reigning Le Mans winning car withnew teammates Stephane Richelmi and Gabriel Aubry.

Spa is one of the most revered racetracks in the world, with Eau Rouge featuring one of the most thrilling corners on the planet.The 6-hour race held on the 7.004km circuit 12 months ago saw the China-flagged team stand on the podium with Tung leading the #Mighty38 crew to finish thirdin LMP2 class.

This weekend’s race also represents the only competition before the first highlight of the WEC Super Season, the Le Mans 24 Hours on 15-16 June. With that in mind, the team will carry on its preparation for defending its victory at the iconic 24-hour endurance race in global motor sport.

DavidCheng, co-founder of Jackie Chan DC Racing

This year I have a differentrole. It’s a different way of looking at the race. In some ways, it’s even amuch bigger challenge being overseeing the construction of the team. From thevery first race of the season, we will target at winning. I think we havestrong line-ups with both cars. We will be motived to grab as many points aspossible at Spa in order to have good points buffer going to Le Mans. And weare very confident with the package we have, which obviously delivered verystrong results last year. But now we are building from scratch. In terms of operationin any race team, you always have thing to improve and something to learn.There are many lessons we learned from last year and will be implemented intothis year to make ourselves strong from the beginning.

SamHignett, director of JOTA Sport

It’s shame that there are notso many cars in LMP2 but the cars remaining are very competitive. I think thefight will just be as difficult as last year and the challenge will just be asthe same. But it’s a challenge we are looking forward to. Both of our cars arevery strong this year. That’s exciting for the team. So, the expectation forSpa has to be to have both cars on the podium. And that’s our goal for Spa;that’s what need to try to achieve in the first race of the new season.

JazemanJaafar, driver of #Fortunecat37, Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport

The level of LMP2 is higherthan I thought. Of course, we have ex-f1 drivers, ex-world champions and LMP1drivers coming to LMP2. With good drivers all around, it makes the competitionso special. These are the guys we want to fight against and pick up strongresults. From the test, we think we are in good shapes heading to the firstrace. The full package will come eventually if we do everything right. As adriver, I want to be sharping in all areas prior to the first race starts. Ihave been doing what I always do – I spend a lot of time training at differentcircuits. I am ready for the new challenge ahead.

NabilJeffri, driver of #Fortunecat37, Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport

I’m really looking forward to thefirst race of the season. I’ve been training very hard for this and beenworking very hard with the team and it’s time to go racing. I feel that as ateam we have a strong package to do well. Let’s hope for the best for thisupcoming round.

WeironTan, driver of #Fortunecat37, Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport

I am truly looking forward to therace and making our debut in WEC. We have made all the necessary preparations.Most importantly is for us to keep our heads down and focus on our ownprogramme and I’m sure we’ll have a good race!

Ho-PinTung, driver of #Mighty38, Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport

We are heading to Spa with alot of confidence, with two very strong car crews in both #37 and #38. I think the competition will be very close. This year we have Ligier and Dallara joining in the battle, which definitely makes things more interesting. Also, next to Dunlop we see another tyre manufacture with Michelin. We will see a lot of exciting races this year again. Last year we raced until the very last lap. We will try to perform one better this year. Everone here in Jackie Chan DC Racingx JOTA Sport has very clear objective: to win every race. And the entire operation just focuses on just one thing: that’s winning.

StephanieRichelmi, driver of #Mighty38, Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport

The team has achieved greatresults last year. It’s definitely helpful to build our confidence because whenyou arrive, you trust more in yourself and you can push each other. I am surethe team knows how to make the car fast. For sure, we will push as hard aspossible to make sure we will be ready in Spa. We will keep working and I trusteveryone here. I believe we can have good result in the first race.

GabrielAubry, driver of #Mighty38, Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport

We are a great team with allgood drivers around. Every time when I got into the car in testing, I workedvery hard. And I expect more from oursister car #37. I believe that we both cars can do great team work this year. Iam very confident if we do our job well, we could get where we want. Of course,we are looking forward to victory in Spa. We all are working for that. I am pretty confident if we do our job well and everything goes as well as we plan,we will achieve it. And I am going to give everything to make it happen.