Hertz Team JOTA to take over Cadillac Hypercar program in 2025
Hertz Team JOTA will take over Cadillac Racing’s FIA WEC Hypercar effort in 2025 and operate an expanded two-car factory program with the V-Series.R.
With this major shift, the UK-based team will switch switch life as a privateer with Porsche for a factory deal with GM, taking over Chip Ganassi Racing as Cadillac’s WEC service provider. The move coincides with the introduction of a new two-car mandate for manufacturers competing in the FIA WEC for 2025.
JOTA and Cadillac’s new-look team will be referred to as Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA and not Cadillac Racing, the team name used since the start of the 2023 season when CGR and Cadillac joined the WEC’s top category.
“Cadillac is proud to be racing against the best in the world as part of the FIA World Endurance Championship, and that includes Hertz Team JOTA,” said John Roth, vice president, Global Cadillac.
“We are thrilled to welcome Hertz Team JOTA next year, bringing decades of racing and technical expertise together, to achieve continued success on the track and create new advocates for our brand around the globe.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Hertz Team JOTA next year, bringing decades of racing and technical expertise together, to achieve continued success on the track and create new advocates for our brand around the globe.”
This effort for JOTA will be its first as a factory operation and comes after more than a decade of success in LMP2 competition. Its stint in P2 included multiple Le Mans class wins and 10 podium finishes at La Sarthe between 2014 and 2022.
JOTA also has an overall WEC race win to its name since stepping up to the WEC’s top class in 2023. Back in May, it became the first (and so far only) privateer Hypercar team to win a WEC race overall in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
“JOTA has always strived to become a manufacturer team, so now joining forces with Cadillac is the realization of this goal,” said Sam Hignett, director and founder, Hertz Team JOTA. “Having competed against the Cadillac V-Series.R for the last two seasons, we have experienced how competitive it is and we are genuinely honored to be entrusted with fielding its cars from 2025 onward.
“We are in the privileged position to have enjoyed record-breaking success in the FIA World Endurance Championship, especially at Le Mans, and we are very much looking forward to continuing this success with Cadillac and Hertz.”
Confirmation of the Chip Ganassi Racing-JOTA swap in the WEC comes months after the GM brand first opted to cut ties with CGR following the 2024 season. That decision, first revealed by RACER back in March, came to light when CGR opted to make the split public.
“We would never close the book on General Motors in terms of the future,” CGR managing director Mike Hull told RACER’s Marshall Pruett at the time. “We just know that this chapter is ending.”
Cadillac’s subsequent search for a new Hypercar service provider was lengthy. RACER understands that the selection process featured at least two other high-profile teams.
Drivers for JOTA’s pair of V-Series.Rs will be announced in due course, along with a formal unveiling of the team that will replace Ganassi in IMSA GTP.
Acura’s current factory team, WTRAndretti, is widely expected to be named as a 2025 Cadillac factory team in North America alongside Action Express.
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