“Hancock is an absolute star. In atrocious conditions, he passed some of the world’s best including the ‘works’ Zytek, the Audi and the Pescarolo. For most of his 2nd stint his times were 2-4 seconds per lap faster than anybody else and by the time he got out the car we’d gone from 7th to 2nd overall.”

These are the words of Team JOTA boss, Sam Hignett, for whom 25-year old British racing driver, Sam Hancock, made his debut last weekend in the top-flight LMP1 category of the Le Mans Endurance Series at the final round of the championship in Istanbul.

The race took place in appalling rain which persisted for most of the 6 hour duration. Hancock took the start for Team JOTA aboard their Zytek car, starting out at a steady pace to look after his wet weather tyres. This proved to be a crucial tactic when the rain soon intensified. With others falling foul of the weather, Hancock set a blistering pace and soon began to pick off his rivals one by one – first came the ‘works’ Zytek in the hands of Tom Chilton; then the Oreca-Audi with a spectacular half lap tussle against Stephane Ortelli; and finally Hancock reigned in Jean-Christophe Boullion’s Pescarolo to take 2nd place. Unfortunately Hancock’s stint came to an end before there was time to attack Nicolas Minassian for the lead, but he still managed to take almost a full minute out of the Frenchman’s advantage.

After nearly two and a half hours in the pouring rain Hancock handed over to team mates Gregor Fisken and local star Jason Tahinci, who both drove well to keep the car on the circuit in the ever-worsening conditions, and come home in a fine 5th place after an eventful race.

Sam Hancock: “Despite the weather it’s been brilliant to be in an LMP1 car, especially at this circuit which really encourages you to push. We struggled a little for pace in the dry qualifying session thanks to a ‘porpoising’ issue which forced us to bleed off downforce, but it wasn’t a problem in the wet so thankfully I could just get on and do my job in the race.

“ I’d like to give a huge thanks to JCB and Gregor Fisken for creating this opportunity – and of course to Team JOTA who have been seriously impressive all weekend and turned out an exceptional car. Hopefully people have now had a chance to see what I can do at this level, which might help as I start looking at opportunities for next year.”