25-year old British racing driver and reigning LMP2 champion, Sam Hancock, will make his long-awaited graduation to the premier, LMP1 category of the Le Mans Endurance Series when he joins Team JOTA in their ‘Zytek’ for the final round of the season in Istanbul on November 13th.

Following some impressive performances this year for the Intersport team at Le Mans and in three races since for the Binnie Motorsports outfit, Hancock was called up by JOTA following the news that the Binnie squad will not compete in Turkey in favour of a head-start on their winter development program.

Hancock’s team mates at the fabulous Istanbul Park circuit (venue of the Turkish F1 Grand Prix) will be his former Le Mans partner, Gregor Fisken, and Turkish F1-aspirant Jason Tahinci.

Hancock was delighted with his appointment: “ I’m over the moon to be honest! I’ve had a great time with Bill Binnie’s squad lately but when they decided not to do Turkey I thought it’d be the start of a very long and quiet winter. So to end up driving for as good a team as JOTA at what is by all accounts a fantastic race track, is just brilliant. 

“In terms of our goals for the race, I see no reason why we shouldn’t at the very least go for a podium. I don’t know Jason personally but I hear very good things about him, and Gregor did a brilliant job for the team in Germany last time out – he is proving to be an exceptional gentleman driver, if indeed you can still categorize him as such. So with such a good team around us, there’s every reason for optimism. I am totally fired up for this one and am very grateful to Team JOTA for the opportunity.”