JACKIE CHAN DC RACING X JOTA SPORT took a dominant 1-2 finish in LMP2 class at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, with #Fortunecat37 and #Mighty38 both in the hunt for the championship after the third round of 2018-19 World Endurance Championship.
Ho-Pin Tung, Stephane Richelmi and Gabriel Aubry, sharing the car #Mighty38 scored the first victory for the Chinese team in the Super Season, while Jazeman Jaafar, Nabil Jeffri and Weiron Tan in the sister car #Fortunecat37 finished in second place, two laps ahead of title rival Signatech Alpine Matmut’s #36.
The team smashed rivals in qualifying and blocked out the first row on the starting grid in LMP2 class. Despite interruption by the drama in the opening lap, it soon became clear the battle for the victory at the famous British circuit was set to be between the two China-flagged cars.
Successfully recovering from a drive through penalty for jump start at the early stage, the #Mighty38 trio put high pressure on their teammates in the #Fortunecat37, who unfortunately encountered a tyre puncture after starting the race from pole position, before the safety car made the field tight, with half-distance approaching.
In the fifth hour of the race, #Mighty38 took the lead when Aubry was behind the wheel, taking the advantage over Jeffri in the #Fortunecat37 who was caught in the Full Course Yellow period on his out lap following a scheduled pit service.
The closing stage witnessed a thrilling chasing game, as Jaafar closed the gap to Tung to only a second, chasing for the maiden win for the first-ever full-Malaysian line-up in WEC history. However, the Chinese driver managed to take the chequered flag ahead of his teammate, winning the race at Silverstone for the second successive year.
As the clouds dispersed and the sun appeared at Silverstone, Jackie Chan DC Racing enjoyed the exiting victory at the home race for JOTA Sport. More importantly, the strong performance throughout the weekend proved every effort made after Le Mans has been on the right track and will definitely boost the team as the championship fight continues at Fuji, 12-14 October.
David Cheng, Co-founder of Jackie Chan DC Racing
It’s really a very happy result. But it was not as easy as it looked, especially when the safety car came out in the midway. Also, the last hour put us under pressure, though the two cars were on different strategies. But we always trust our drivers and we appreciate their fighting spirit. At the end of the day, everyone has done a fantastic job. As a team, after Le Mans, we have been working hard to step up our game. Now we have shown our real ability and we will keep improving in order to win the championship.
Sam Hignett, Director of JOTA Sport
A great victory that we definitely deserved here in Silverstone, which is lovely for the whole team as many of our members are from Britain. All drivers did a great job. We probably didn’t do the best job with strategy at times, but we did better than everyone else. Importantly, now we are on top of the struggles we had in Le Mans. So, we are back in the game with both cars in the championship hunt.
Jazeman Jaafar, driver of #Fortunecat37, Jackie Chan DC Racing X JOTA Sport
It was a special weekend, with the first podium for us full-Malaysian line-up representing the country. We fought hard and fought all the way despite our tyre issue and the later Full Course Yellow issue. But we never gave a single breath down right until the chequered flag. The team just did great job to put it together. I want to give this moment another positive note and am looking forward to Fuji to score more big points.
Nabil Jeffri, driver of #Fortunecat37, Jackie Chan DC Racing X JOTA Sport
I am quite happy with the 2nd place because in Spa we were 4thand then 4th again in Le Mans. I think we have improved so much as a team and we are going the right direction. The team has helped us a lot with this. We feel we could make next step to win in Fuji, because at the end of the day, we only want to win. It’s still a long way to go, and I think it’s going to be very close fighting for the championship.
Weiron Tan, driver of #Fortunecat37, Jackie Chan DC Racing X JOTA Sport
Thank you very much to the team. The team did a great job, finishing 1-2 at Silverstone, the home race for JOTA Sport. Coming from Le Mans, I think we did a fantastic job. So big congrats to all the drivers and the team. It is a great team effort overall. Leading the pack by two laps from the third position, we would not think that we could be able achieve this. But we are going to continue developing, continuing working hard and hopefully achieve the same result in the rest of the season, if it is not better.
Ho-Pin Tung, driver of #Mighty38, Jackie Chan DC Racing X JOTA Sport
It was really a great result for the team. The start didn’t go as we planned but we played catch-up and recovered very well because our pace was very good. After a difficult Le Mans, we have been pushing hard to catch up the field. The turn-around here at Silverstone was phenomenal, with the pace of both cars being incredible. And I really enjoyed the fight with Jazeman at the final hour. So I am very very happy.
Stephane Richelmi, driver of #Mighty38, Jackie Chan DC Racing X JOTA Sport
It was not a smooth start for the game, but we know we had the pace in the car and was trying to score the maximum points possible. When we saw our sister car having a puncture, we tried to manage the pace. The safety car came at the wrong time. We could only refuel for 5-seconds two times losing time there. Luckily the later Full Course Yellow helped us, and we overtook the #37 car. The last hour was tight but overall it was a good result for the team. And we are satisfied with the performance of the car. We will come back even stronger in Fuji.
Gabriel Aubry, driver of #Mighty38, Jackie Chan DC Racing X JOTA Sport
Compared to my teammates, it was the first win in WEC for me. So, it just made the weekend more special. It was my third race in the championship, I just tried to do as best as I could, learning from my teammates and the engineers. It was a good effort from everyone since Le Mans and we have improved a lot as a team. The win will give me more confidence in myself and the car. I really look forward to the next race in Fuji.
