(upbeat music) - Well, Wilkins, what is a special edition of the weekend sports game? Special, because we're with the, well, team principal of what is gonna be a brand new factory team in the F.O.L.A. by the George Championship for 2025. Rather than neatly, it'll be the 25th year of this team in competition. Welcome to the show, Sam Higgins of Cathalac Earth's team, Jota, I've got that one right. - That's right, that's right. The only thing you didn't get it right is D2GAS is the team principal. I'm Jaudelis. - Jaudelis. - So what a journey. We're here in York Technical Center in the heart of the English country, so like beautiful part of the world. Looking downstairs at moments, we've got one of our number of fellow P2 cars that team still owns. It's a stunning lack of hyper cars, just there on the way at the moment to Kota. But pretty soon, it's gonna be two new Cathalac V-Series R's in your workshop, and it will be the first time that Jota have handled a factory programme and certainly a factory programme at this level. - Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, I think in conversations we've had previously, we've gone into hypercar racing with the goal of becoming a factory team. We then reinforced that by going to two cars this year, so we were a plug and play solution for a manufacturer, and the opportunities come along, and here we are. - Well, you said it's 25 years, we've just come through the team office where you've got a stunning display of most of the cars that the team has campaigned to their years, a couple of them missing. They're the very early ones. - Yes. - And Renault Clio V6? - Yeah, the Renault Clio V6 is from very, very early on. - And 100 Tekra, as well, was the, well, first of all, I want these to find online. - Yes. - But through there, we've been through LNP2 in various earrings. - Yeah. - SR2 with the pill beam back in the day. Close call with LNP1, we'll come back to that, 'cause that's quite an interesting aside. Then GT racing, GT4, GT2, GT3, GTE. - Yeah. - Pretty much the whole set. And then this fabulous deal that you, with David Clark, put together, for Herb's team, Joe, to bring the Porsche 963's to the F-I Body Jones Championship, sort of showing the way for what was possible commercially for a private ear team. Tell us a bit about the latter part of that journey. It was big smiles when that all happened. I think a program that was welcomed by just about everybody that cares about sports car racing. Cars look great. - Yeah. - But they went really well as well. And that, rather oddly, has become something of a branch line at the moment, because WEC is so busy with all these factory cars. - Yeah, and it's lovely to be there and be able to compete and not just be making up the numbers, and it's not just us. Proton and the private Ferrari have showed that Edie's a level playing field. With the resource and the commitment Edie's possible to compete as a private ear against these factory teams. So, all credit to the lawmakers that there is a set of rules that allow a private ear team to do that on, I would guess, a tenth of the budget of what some of the factories are running on. - Yeah, talk to me a little bit before we get into the catalog story. About where that private in-market place has been, and where you believe it can be and should be moving forward later in the history of this spectacularly successful hyperco on GTP class. - Time to say a big thank you to our show partners on the Marshall Pruitt podcast, starting with FAFT Technologies. 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All the show stickers, models, a racing member of Bieliam, trying to sell and put towards our fund to buy a house, is now live and rocking, ThePruittStore.com. - It's a shame the Porsche were the only people to do the hypercar customer program, but kudos to them for having done it. I think it's important that we keep private hypercars in the mix. We prove there's a market and there's an appetite out there to have private cars. And we must never forget that Lamont is built on, you know, the privateer when you look back through history. So it's very important, but that element of our sport remains. - I'll ask the question briefly, what happens to the porters? I mean, I think as with most cars at that level, tend to be on by private individuals, what happens now to the fabulous racing gold 963s? - I need to speak to the private individuals. (laughing) - To find out. - Cadillac next. And that's an exciting program. The car, big fan favorite for the way it looks and not leads to the way it sounds, but also the way it goes. It's a big change for General Motors to bring this program to you. What are their hopes and expectations? What are your hopes and expectations? Where are the tick boxes in the first weeks and months of the program with you? - I think the overall expectation and hope is to win on that. Anybody that's competing in the hypercar class, that's their goal. So fundamentally, that's number one. Then to win the Wake Championship, that's number two. How will you get to that point? There's a lot of work to be done. As you say, a lot of boxes to tick, but that's where we're aiming for. - There's all sorts of way points with that. One is, of course, you guys get your heads around the car. There were some don't-nones. Obviously the hyperdrive is something you've been working with on the Porsche, new chassis, new engine, all sorts of systems to be thought through. Testing is going to be a key part of that, and I'm guessing that there is a program coming together. - Yes, yeah, there will be testing. Obviously it's limited by the rules, and the way the rules are written makes it quite complicated, but there will be an amount of testing. There will also be a lot of big simulated programs to help the drivers, and even the engineers get up to speed with the car. - Now that presumably is going to include, we wait for the announcement of your opposite numbers for the GTP program in IMSA, but we expect there'll be a fair amount of team working across the most valuable commodity in race these days, is data. - Yeah, that exchange, that open exchange of data, either virtually or on-site that we would expect to see them, maybe a WC race, we'd expect to see your guys and girls, potentially at the Relics 24, looking over shoulders and seeing how things are working. - Yeah, quite. The value of running on both sides of the Atlantic is exactly to say the knowledge, the ability to learn more, to learn faster, and I'm quite sure that Penske would say that their substantial increase in performance this year has come about through the unity between the IMSA team and the WEC team, and the way those two have worked fantastically together. And that's what we've got to follow, that's what we've got to do with whoever our counterparts are in America. - I'll ask you a tricky question, straight into the mix here, which is in WC terms, the modern terms, the American teams who are employing your sandbox, I would guess there's potential in the future, not immediately, pretty obviously, it's a busy, busy lead into the WC season. It's the opportunity for us to see a Cadillac Hertz team, Jota, got it right again, Karl racing in their sandbox in Florida. - Yeah, I think it's definitely something that's on our radar, you know, we did Daytona with the P2 cars back in 2018, and didn't do particularly well, so there's work to be done there, and something to try and knock off the list, the races to win. - Give us that immediate emotional response of this, D-list out of done, it's been a long process, you know, talking pretty much through 2024, to get to this stage, with some serious competition in the marketplace. - Yes. - But tell us how you think you've got this over the line, and the emotional response from everybody here, it's a tight team of Steve, Jota, that it's not a huge number of people around this, which we all know, means that those people have had to work pretty hard. - Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's, you know, the emotional response is initially it's like fantastic, it's done, and then it's like, wow, there's a lot of work to do. Whenever you get into a new program, and changing cars, you say, the hybrid element remains, so one third of the workload is relatively consistent, but there's a new internal combustion engine, there's a new chassis, there's new processes and systems that we've got to learn. So, I think there's relief, but there's an awful lot of work to get done, to make sure we're competitive from the work. - You're all on P2T, we talk on this show, and we were deusing with Race Rebel, the other P2 super teams from that era, most of whom are now in hypercar. - Yeah. And we saw a huge proportion of your team, boys and girls switching from the other P2 program to hypercar. What's the plan now in terms of the incoming factory talent, technical talent, if you like, from Cadillac? What impact is that gonna make you meridly to the luck and the feel of the team in your garage? - There won't be a huge difference because there is a staff limit in place, which is still being defined for the future, but we're operating relatively close to that stuff, and I think there was a point, as you're saying, the era of the LMP super teams, where we were over that, staff didn't exist for the LMP 2 teams, but we were taking more staff to Lamondham, the LMD teams were, but there won't be a massive change in that respect, and we've had the support through Portum Multimatic in the current hypercar program, and we will have more, obviously, in the Cadillac program, but I don't think there'll be huge changes. - We said we'd touch on a couple of topstones for LMP1 that passed the work up on, rather than the Lola for Shaloo's. - Yep, Lamondham, and you're telling us, actually, walking up the stairs here, almost had history been a little bit different. Jojo could have been in LMP1, similar in line with? - With the AMR1. - So that was, we did a big program with ProDrive through GT4 into GT2, or GT2? - GT2 in the GT2 GT2 GT2 GT2 GT2 GT4. And then the step up then was into the AMR1 program, but unfortunately, that, as history knows, that faltered and never happened. The reason I asked the question is, not because it's historically interesting it is, it's you've then got a really good comparator between the way the marketplace was that, what is that, a decade more ago? - Yes. - To the marketplace now. Hypercar does seem to have provided the opportunity for a team with skill and ambition, like Jojo to take a massive step forward. - Yes, it has, it has. And there are complexities with the hybrid system and costs and difficulties around that, but that is a necessary component of motorsport at this level now. But it is, and the cars are more complicated, particularly from the software point of view, but it is a platform that privateer teams can compete at and race them. - So the ambitions for Cadillac, I'm sure, matched by her state Jojo. In that, you know, we've just walked past what has to be one of the biggest collections of the long trophies and the hands of any private team. Your ambition is clearly, as we back on a top step, but this time being the top step at the long-term crowds. - Yes, absolutely. And, you know, since the world go, that's been the ambition of the team. So putting the building blocks in place to be able to achieve that. And, you know, we had a close call in 2017 with the LMP2 car, which would have been a great moment in history. Isn't that car still here? - Yes. - And now we've had, you know, we won a spa with the hypercar, so we're building the building blocks to get to that top step of the long-term. - So those who don't know the history of Jojo, let's talk a little bit about that timeline. Starting out in Touring Cars, one make racing. - Yep. - Into smaller prototypes, SR2, which was the LMP2 of the day, when you're back in the days when you were a driver. - Yes. - Do you mean me? - I remember being introduced to you, Bali, Sam Smith, still with the other one was at Jojo's Championship. As you need to speak to Sam, he's pretty good, blah, blah, blah. I mean, obviously, he was a liar. (laughing) The back of the day. And then moving up into an eye-catching program with the side tech. And from there on in, it's always seemed to be one of those teams that does two things in parallel that show purpose. The two things are always looking to the next program. And the second thing is, the cars were always beautifully presented. - Yes. And that, you know, that's been a key, key remit of what we do, is to have the best looking cars that, you know, it helps commercially, it helps from a supporters point of view, to have that in, you know, in your mantra or something you do. And with that, the success, and trying to, you know, trying to put the best driver line-ups in how the budget will permit on the ground to be able to have the most success. - And the drivers we gather that's going to be, there could be factory drivers. This is a factory team. It is not a factory car and a Jotica. These are two factory cars. But you and your team will have some say in that selection. - Yes. And, you know, we're working hand in hand with Cadillac and GM on making those driver appointments. - Can we get some idea of when soon? - Yeah, be towards the end of the season, probably after the season. - Looking back again, championship runs with young talent coming through and some of the young guys have come through that you see move on to upwards. Is there the opportunity to still do that? Is there the opportunity for this to be the stepping stone into international stardom that we've seen for the odd few people? I mean, I'm thinking of, you know, young guys like Aunt David have never been where he got to without. (laughing) Without you, he would never have been a TV commentator. (laughing) - Oh, I hope it is, you know, it's talent deserves to be rewarded. And, you know, if there is the right candidate, then they would absolutely be considered. - I ask the chief question, that there's been stories around for a while that you guys have got this deal cooking. We've been firmly across it from working, you know, hunting with people to make sure this is done properly as it should be. How busy is your phone been? - Yeah, it's been pretty warm. (laughing) It's been pretty warm. But, you know, it's great. But likewise, it was, I got a lot of calls going up to the two cars in hypercar. - Yeah. - Especially when we were trying to do the deal that didn't quite come about with the X-World champions and such like that was, you know, quite an interesting period of time with some of the calls I was getting them. But, yeah, it's been busy. - I guess that's the other point without naming names is. Has it been a surprise to you, the caliber of drivers and drivers' representatives that have been in touch? - Not just about the Cadillac program, but about the Porsche program. Has the draw of this new formula surprised you? - Yeah, I think it happens. You know, it's everybody's looking at it, everybody's interested in it. We see it in the spectator numbers on event and the TV numbers and all of those numerics. But yeah, certainly there aren't many drivers who haven't got an eye now on the sports car pattern, which is great for the business. - And that's the final most important question I guess is, you're there with some very high profile names on the side of that car and, you know, with ownership interest in some cases with the team, they've got to be happy for this to be something that's sustainable. - How happy are they? - Yeah, I think everybody's very, very pleased that, you know, we're going in something for three years. We know what the future holds with the progression of the rules, grandfathering of the rules from all years, there's further opportunity. So yeah, it's a good place to be to be able to sit back and really focus on the next race rather than worrying too much about the future. - Are we going to see some hurt teams chose a Cadillac show cars around in bizarre places in the south? - Yeah, hopefully. Hopefully, you know, that's been a successful part of this program, the show car program. So we hope it will continue. - And beyond that, so hypercar now done. Possibility of having got a couple of GDP appearances in North America. - Yeah. - Is this as far as you want to grow to see at this point, or are there other ambitions in the future? - No, this is as far as we want to grow. We just want to focus on this program. We're going into the two car hypercar program this year. That was the remit. You know, we got rid of our GT3 operation and merged those guys into the hypercar program in 2022. So that's been the goal and that's how we're moving forward, just focusing solely on this one program. - So we've done it for a long time. And it's always a concern when you've got some moves from being a driver to sort of moves into team management that the spark might be a little bit different. Is it still exciting when you get to a race meeting? - Excites are terrifying. I'm not going to race one. No, I mean, you know, you can't work this hard and come across this many obstacles and not be passionate about what you do. So, and that's a huge driving force within the team is the passion and the desire to win is part of the ingredient that gives us the results and the performance that we're known for. So it's five to wrap it up. So in your words, why this group you've got here, especially? - I think it's the, we are a tight-knit group. You know, when we win Le Mans, when the LNP2 class in Le Mans, we would buy every member of the team watch. She's going to get very expensive, kick from when we win Le Mans overall. So we've done that three times and I think there's nine people in the business with all three watches. So it just proves, you know, people stay within the business, they, you know, prout out to be associated with the team. - That's a decade. - Yes, yeah. And that's a lovely place to be. - Looking back, it is 25 years, it's going to give us 25. Is that comforting or slightly terrifying? - Again, slightly terrifying, isn't it? We're all getting older. That's the, that's a difficulty. But, you know, it's, it's still a nice place to be and hopefully, I don't know what the stats are around Le Mans wins, but hopefully we can write a bit of history in the future. - For now, from us, I'm sure from all of our listeners, they'd like me to say good luck with what comes next. It's been a spectacular performance, both fishing young and competitive terms from first team jokes at amazing scenes at Le Mans on the rebuild of the car and bring that car home. - Yes. - And race with overall and who knows what the rest of the car. But for now, some hit the Cadillac first team jitter. Thanks very much. - Thank you. (upbeat music) You
