Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport claimed its second straight FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) victory, and its third of the season, after this year’s LMP2 Le Mans winners reigned supreme at the 6 Hours of Nürburgring at the weekend. Drivers Ho-Pin Tung, Oliver Jarvis and Thomas Laurent once again proved unbeatable in the #Mighty38 ORECA, extending their lead in the LMP2 team and driver classifications.
The #FortuneCat37 ORECA of David Cheng, Tristan Gommendy and Alex Brundle scored a top-five finish, rebounding after a tough start and facing several challenges during the grueling race. The trio fought hard to stay in contention and their efforts – combined with a second-place finish at Le Mans last month – puts them fourth in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams.
Starting from pole position for the first time this season, the #Mighty38 initially lost out at the start, but had retaken the lead by the second hour and was firmly in control. The car eventually finished the race a full lap ahead of its closest rivals.
The sister #FortuneCat37 had a more challenging race, starting further back on the grid than the car’s pace deserved. The team persevered and battled back, and by mid-race were running second in the category order. Contact during the unrelenting six hours made it harder to defend, with #FortuneCat37 ultimately finishing fifth.
Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport now heads into a long summer break, with the FIA WEC action resuming in September in Mexico. While the first half of the season has been nothing short of a dream for the Chinese team, there’s still plenty more to come from Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport.
Quotes
#37 David Cheng: “First, a great job from the #38 boys – prefect execution from the entire team this weekend. For our #37, the race was much tougher as Tristan had a few track limit penalties in qualifying, meaning that we didn’t get the starting position our pace deserved. It was a tough start and some pushing around for Alex meant we lost some spots again. But on a notoriously difficult track to pass on, both Alex and Tristan did an amazing job to take us all the way up to second by the middle of the race. I had a bit of a difficult time defending our position and was constantly hit from the back and the sides.
With a bruised car, it was a bit harder to keep the pace and we lost a few spots, but to finish fifth and stay in contention – I think the whole team did a really great job. We will continue to train hard over the break and will come to the next race having built on that momentum.”
#38 Ho-Pin Tung: “After our dream week at Le Mans you would think it couldn’t get any better. But what a fantastic weekend at the Nürburgring again! I believe this race has been our strongest performance so far this year. It shows we keep on developing and improving as a team. Our first pole of the year and in every stint, for every driver, we were able to extend our lead during the race to take a commanding win and extend our championship lead. While there’s a big break now until Mexico, everyone at Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport will continue to work hard – there’s still room for improvement and we’re hungry for more.”
Greg Wheeler, Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport Engineer: “These results can only be achieved when every single member of the team does a near-perfect job. The chain has no weak links.”
