Antonio Felix Da Costa has confirmed his step away from the FIA World Endurance Championship for the 2024 season in a social media statement.

Former WEC LMP2 champion and JOTA Hypercar driver Da Costa will not return to the WEC next year.

The Portuguese driver has competed in the last five consecutive seasons, including this year when the JOTA Sport team made their step into the Hypercar class as a Porsche 963 customer team.

Having won the WEC LMP2 championship title in 2022, whereby he also won the Le Mans 24 Hours, Da Costa made the announcement via his Instagram social media.

“It’s with great sadness that I won’t be competing in the World Endurance Championship in 2024,” he said.

“I remember when I first started in endurance and thinking ’24-hour races?’.

“Today [it] is one of my biggest passions. Having had the pleasure to work with a amazing teams, brands, manufacturers, and especially teammates.

“Team JOTA, thank you so much for all that you did in the my life and career, best time I’ve had on a race track.

“This is not a goodbye, just a see-you-later.”

The 2019-20 Formula E champion made his WEC debut during the Super-Season of 2018-19 for BMW Team MTEK in GTE-Pro, which aligned with his responsibilities as a BMW factory driver with a BMW Andretti Formula E drive as well.

In the following season, he drove for JOTA Sport for the first time in their Oreca 07 Gibson LMP2 and gained his first WEC win at the 4 Hours of Shanghai, one of five podium appearances during the 2019-20 campaign including a P2 (LMP2) finish at Le Mans.

With teammates Roberto Gonzalez and Will Stevens, the trio won Le Mans in LMP2 last year and rounded up the championship as class-title winners.

As a Porsche Formula E driver, his 2024 commitments are expected to sway towards the upcoming season after pre-season testing last week.

Meanwhile, JOTA has submitted a yet-to-be-approved application to run two drivers for two races in 2024, a year which will see just Hypercar and LMGT3 make up the full-season WEC package.

Da Costa’s final race before his 2024 WEC step-away will be this Saturday’s 8 Hours of Bahrain in the JOTA Hypercar, after claiming an equal-best finish of sixth position at the previous Fuji race.

Antonio Felix da Costa of the #38 JOTA Porsche 963 has reflected upon the missed potential for a stronger 6 Hours of Monza, regarding their reliability woes.

The #38 JOTA were one of four teams who led the fourth round of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship after just one-and-a-half hours.

Da Costa started the Porsche from ninth position overall and seized the opportunity to overtake the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Sebastien Buemi and the #51 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi after their contact at Turn 1.

From sixth place, Da Costa showed competitive pace relative to the Hypercar front-runners, but was forced to make an unscheduled pitstop due to electronic reliability troubles.

The Portuguese driver said: “We started the race on a strong note with clever strategic decisions, and even held the lead for a while. 

“But then, we encountered software problems and had to make an extra stop to change the steering wheel and reboot everything.

“That cost us a lap and an additional drive-through penalty because the speed limiter wasn’t working properly.”

At roughly the halfway point, Da Costa pitted for an emergency service stop and was unable to change the wheel during a safety car period, as you can only take five seconds of fuel when under safety car.

Upon leaving the pitlane, the #38 Porsche 963 stopped at the first chicane before performing a power cycle to continue driving.

After the safety car period had ended, they pitted again for a full-service stop where they were able to change the steering wheel.

He consolidated: “Still, we took the opportunity to turn a lot of laps and get to know the Porsche 963 and the race tyres a bit better.”

Combined with the efforts of his teammates Yifei Ye and Will Stevens, they finished in ninth place, two laps down on the winning #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid.

They remain optimistic for the 6 Hours of Fuji on 10 September, since stepping up from the prior Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 package only two races ago at Spa-Francorchamps, finishing in sixth position.

JOTA Sport has unveiled the livery which adorn its customer Porsche 963 when it makes its debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship later this year.

The car, which is gold and red, is sponsored by car hire company Hertz, as well as Porsche vehicle specialists Singer and American NFL legend Tom Brady. 

The car will make its debut in a race preceding the 24 Hours of Le Mans, although whether that will be at the 6 hour races at Portimao or Spa, both to be held next month, is currently not certain.

As previously announced, the driver line up in the car will be Porsche works driver Antonio Felix da Costa, Yifei Ye, who is affiliated with Porsche Asia, and Will Stevens.

In the meantime, Ye and Stevens will compete in #48 JOTA Oreca 07 Gibson, alongside David Beckmann, at the 1000 Miles of Sebring, the opening round of the 2023 WEC season. JOTA will also have another full season LMP2 car, crewed by David Heinemier Hansson, Oliver Rasmussen and Pietro Fittipladi.

David Clark and Sam Hignett, JOTA co-owners, said: “As a team, we have demonstrated our abilities to perform, securing 10 podiums in the last 9 years at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

“Thanks to the support of our new partners, we’re stepping up to the Hypercar class and Hertz Team JOTA will be competing against some of the world’s largest automotive manufacturers. 

“We have a strong, experienced team and as one of the few private entries in the class, we’re keeping the spirit of Le Mans alive and look forward to getting out on track.”  

JOTA Sport has confirmed Will Stevens and Antonio Felix da Costa will race alongside the already-confirmed Yifei Ye in the team’s customer Porsche 963 in the forthcoming 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship season.

Da Costa and Stevens, who raced for JOTA with Roberto Gonzalez last year in the LMP2 class, winning the championship at the final round in Bahrain, have long been expected to continue with the team, for their long-awaited step up to the top WEC class, Hypercar — both for the team and the two drivers.

Ye, meanwhile, a Porsche-affiliated driver, was confirmed to be racing the car at last year’s Porsche Night of Champions. The Chinese racer has been working his way up the endurance ranks in recent years, in a quick rise to the top for the talented 22-year-old.

JOTA’s Porsche 963 programme will be sponsored by Hertz, the global rental car company, and Singer, the Porsche 911 specialist tuning company. A picture shown oiff by the team indicated the car will race in a gold livery, a departure from the green-and-red combo JOTA’s raced with in recent years.

However, it remains to be seen when JOTA will first race its 963, with customer Porsche 963s unlikely to be ready for the season opener in Sebring in mid-March. JOTA will also race a single Oreca 07-Gibson in LMP2, with drivers David Heinemeier Hansson, Pietro Fittipaldi, and Oliver Rasmussen.

JOTA directors and co-owners, David Clark and Sam Hignett, commented on the signing of the two drivers to its programme, saying, “Our lineup of Antonio, Will and Yifei is a strong mix of speed, experience and youthful exuberance.

“We’ve had success over recent years and as one of the only privateer entries in the Hypercar class we’ll be taking the challenge to our manufacturer counterparts.

“We’re working hard to prepare for the first race of the season and look forward to revealing our first Hertz Team JOTA livery in due course.”

Meanwhile, Da Costa said: “Over the last few years we’ve had great results together so I’m thrilled to be returning to the team.

“We’re stepping up to Hypercar class with a whole new set of partners backing us and I can’t wait to get behind the wheel of our new Hertz Team JOTA car. It’s a big leap forward for motorsport as a whole and will hopefully be a memorable year ahead.”

Stevens, a Brit hailing from Essex, added: “As a group, we have a strong foundation working together already for a number of years which shall help with our transition into LMDh.

“Being the reigning LMP2 champions gives us a great platform for the campaign ahead, it will be a special time racing together as the all-new Hertz Team JOTA.”

JOTA has unveiled a revamped line-up for its #28 ORECA 07-Gibson following the departure of Stoffel Vandoorne, Sean Gelael and Tom Blomqvist from the team.

It was announced that the trio would be departing the squad after its successful 2021 campaign, with Vandoorne and Blomqvist likely following Gelael to Team WRT.

Instead, the #28 car will now by driven by the all-new trio of Oliver Rasmussen, Jonathan Aberdein and Ed Jones.

Rasmussen, a previous race winner in the Formula Regional European Championship, raced in FIA F3 in 2021. He will also join G-Drive Racing at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Aberdein, a former DTM driver, has spent the last year racing LMP2 machinery with United Autosports in the European Le Mans Series, winning the Portimao season finale.

Jones, meanwhile, is a former IndyCar racer, racing for the likes of Chip Ganassi Racing and Dale Coyne Racing. The Dubai-born Brit was scheduled to race in DTM in 2020, but lost out on that opportunity due to COVID-induced travel issues.

Jones and Rasmussen will also team up together at this month’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, as they’ve both been signed to drive G-Drive Racing’s #68 Aurus 01 at the Florida classic.

JOTA also announced the line-up of its #38 car earlier on Wednesday, with Will Stevens coming in to partner Antonio Felix da Costa and Roberto Gonzalez.

Will Stevens will make his return to the JOTA squad for the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship, replacing the retired Anthony Davidson.

The former F1 driver will partner the returning pairing of Roberto Gonzalez and Antonio Felix da Costa aboard the #38 ORECA 07-Gibson.

He effectively takes the place of the retired Davidson, who announced prior to last year’s season finale at the Eight Hours of Bahrain that he would be calling time on his professional racing career.

Stevens competed with the squad during both the 2018-19 and 2019-20 FIA WEC seasons, when it was still racing under the Jackie Chan DC Racing banner.

In his time with the team, he scored two race wins and four further podiums. His total tally of wins in the WEC stands at four and he also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the GTE Am class in 2017.

Alongside his WEC campaign, the Briton will also form part of Wayne Taylor Racing’s line-up for the IMSA Endurance Cup.

JOTA has been one of the top squads in the WEC LMP2 category for the last number of years. In 2021, the team finished second in the standings only behind champion newcomers Team WRT.

JOTA has confirmed that Stoffel Vandoorne and Tom Blomqvist will not return to JOTA’s LMP2 line-up for the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship after team-mate Sean Gelael was announced to have joined Team WRT on Tuesday.

Vandoorne, Blomqvist and Gelael finished second in the LMP2 standings in 2021, being the only of the title-contending cars to not win a race despite nearly winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Silver-rated Gelael was announced as the first driver in Team WRT’s expanded two-car LMP2 effort for the 2022 season, which also cast doubts over his team-mates’ future with the LMP2 stalwarts.

In a statement on social media, which has since been deleted, JOTA announced that the duo, along with Gelael, will not return to the team for the upcoming WEC campaign.

“It’s with great sadness that we announce the departure of Sean Gelael, Stoffel Vandoorne and Tom Blomqvist from JOTA,” the team wrote.

“We thank them for all their hard work and dedication throughout the last year. It’s been a season we will look back at fondly, full of podiums and top tier racing.”

“We wish them all the best for the future and look forward to battling with them back out on track. Although they are no longer part of the JOTA team they will always be a part of the JOTA family!”

Although it remains yet to be confirmed, it would appear likely that the duo will follow team-mate Gelael to Team WRT’s LMP2 squad, which will expand to two cars for its sophomore campaign.

Tom Blomqvist admitted he ‘cocked up’ on his quickest lap during qualifying for the Six Hours of Bahrain, but was still quick enough to take pole position even though his fastest lap was deleted.

Blomqvist took the pole aboard the #28 JOTA ORECA 07-Gibson late Friday afternoon. The Briton only just beat out Filipe Albuquerque’s #22 United Autosports ORECA, who set a flying lap at the very end of the short qualifying session to jump up to second place.

Antonio Felix da Costa, Blomqvist’s JOTA, team-mate was third in class. The top three in the fiercely competitive session was separated by just over two-tenths of a second.

Bloqmvist had been on form all throughout Friday at the Bahrain International Circuit, topping both the second and third practice sessions in LMP2 prior to taking pole position. The single point on offer for qualifying means that JOTA extend their points advantage over Team WRT from one to two points.

“I’ve got to thank the team, huge credit for them,” Blomqvist said. “We rolled off the truck with a good car, but it wasn’t amazing and we made some really good tweaks overnight. That transformed our car for today. I’ve been super confident, super happy with it all day long.”

“I was quite confident going into qualifying. My first run was good. Second run, I don’t know what I was trying to do but I pushed a little bit too hard and cocked up the first sector. Nonetheless, it was thankfully just enough to keep the pole position.”

Ultimately, the gap between Blomqvist and Albuquerque came down even further when Blomqvist had his fastest lap deleted. His second-quickest lap, a 01:49:932, was still quick enough for pole, but Albuquerque’s late flyer now meant that the gap between first and second in LMP2 was a mere 0.062s

“The number 22 [car] had a pretty massive comeback in that session,” Blomqvist said of Albuquerque. “We can’t rule anyone else out. It’s going to be a tough, tough race. This track is proving really difficult with our cars this weekend.

“It’s probably one of the first times we’ve had a proper race here during the day, so that’s going to throw a proper curveball. It’s going to be difficult to manage so we’ve definitely got that in the back of our minds. We have to really take care of our tyres.”

“After many years of racing, you should get your head around a track relatively fast. Obviously, the car makes my life a little bit easier.”

Blomqvist was not the only driver to have a lap time deleted in LMP2. High Class Racing’s Robert Kubica, initially seventh in class, also lost his fastest lap for a track limit infringement. As a result, the Danish squad has been dropped back to tenth in class, only ahead of the Richard Mille Racing Team squad.

As a result, Team WRT will start the six-hour enduro from seventh place in class.

Tom Blomqvist says JOTA ‘weren’t meant to win’ Le Mans after losing out on the LMP2 class victory by seven-tenths of a second.

Blomqvist, along with Stoffel Vandoorne and Sean Gelael, finished second in class behind Team WRT in a fiercely contested finale after the leading ORECA of Yifei Ye ground to a halt on the final lap.

This handed the lead to Robin Frijns, but with ageing tyres, the Dutchman found himself under attack from second-placed Blomqvist, who ultimately came up just short.

For the #28 JOTA crew, missing out on the victory by a narrow margin was the conclusion to a bittersweet race filled with troubles and penalties.

“To lose by seven tenths is hard but you know everything went away in this race,” said Blomqvist. “We made a few mistakes and things that obviously went against us so I mean we weren’t meant to win it.”

“The team did a great job, we had a super fast car. When I knew the gap there was around five seconds, six seconds the last lap, I knew it was gonna be tight, obviously getting to the last sector behind him… there’s nowhere really to pass, which was a bit crazy because we were so obviously racing.

“It was pretty awesome. I think it was one of the most exciting finishes for a long, long time. What a race. It was my first proper Le Mans, I mean I raced last year but to compete for victory here. It was amazing and I really enjoyed the race, I loved it.”

The team suffered a number of issues throughout the race, including a slow stop on Sunday morning, but most notably Blomqvist triggered two penalties in a row during stop under the safety car on Saturday evening.

After NorthWest AMR’s Marcos Gomes triggered a safety car with a major crash at Indianapolis, the team made a late call for Blomqvist to pit. As a result, the Briton missed the pit entry and was given a drivethrough penalty.

After that pitstop, a second penalty followed when he drove out of the pits and joined the wrong safety car queue, for which he was given a 90 second stop and go penalty.

“We made a really late call to box, so I had to cross over the line,” explained Blomqvist. “Which we knew we would get a penalty for, a drivethrough, but the loss wasn’t going to be so bad.

“So we went for that but we got caught out with the pit exit light being green. So we went out apparently you have to wait for the next safety car, if you box. So we actually got a good gain out of that.”

“It was a difficult one to take,” he said of the second penalty. “Because the pit exit light should have been red, it was green. So obviously we went out and that’s what we said.”

“So in theory, the team… the onus is on them, right? Which is a bit awkward, because the pix exit is green, you’re gonna go, you’re not gonna sit in the car because, well, yeah. You can’t blame anyone for that, we had that drivethrough, we had that 90 second stop and go.”

Another delay occurred during the night, when the team mistakenly opted to change to intermediate tyres when slicks were the better option.

“It’s a shame because our car was really fast,” Blomqvist rued. “Over the course of the race, I think we had the fastest car. I was really happy with the way I was driving, I felt really comfortable with the car. My teammates, Sean and Stoffel, did a great job as well.

“So it’s a shame to lose, we felt like we maybe we lost a win, coming so close to it is obviously… it’s still great to get second but to lose by seven tenths is bittersweet in a way. I actually would have been happier to lose by more. It was so close.”

Sean Gelael is excited about his debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, saying that the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe fully lives up to the hype surrounding it.

The Indonesian former Formula 2 racer is set to make his first appearance in the French endurance classic with top British prototype outfit JOTA as part of a line-up featuring Tom Blomqvist and Stoffel Vandoorne.

After spending several years racing in F2 as well as a stint as a test driver with Toro Rosso, Gelael has now made the full transition into sportscar racing.

His first outings with JOTA came in the Asian Le Mans Series at the beginning of the year, before embarking on a full FIA World Endurance Championship campaign that has so far led to podiums in both Spa-Francorchamps and Portimao.

Now, the fourth round of the series brings Gelael to Le Mans for the 89th edition of the French endurance classic.

“It’s amazing man,” Gelael told MotorsportWeek.com about his experience in Le Mans so far. “To be honest, it’s been an experience. I’ve been really excited. Just doing the sim, people tell you how good Le Mans is, but you never really experienced it, like, you never know how good it is until you experience it.”

“Now, first time being here, I was already excited with the prep work, sim, videos and everything and then first time actually driving it – it lives up to the hype.”

“It’s really amazing and how high speed and with the road, the bumps and everything. It’s really nice.”

Despite his Le Mans debut, Gelael is not completely new to endurance racing. Back in 2016, he competed in the WEC for three rounds with Extreme Speed Motorsports, alongside current partner Blomqvist and Alfa Romeo F1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi, notably finising second in the LMP2 class in Shanghai.

Gelael says that that experience is beneficial going into his debut, although he says he will draw more from his Asian Le Mans Series programme earlier in the year.

“I think you understand a bit more like the strategy towards it. Like, what you kind of prepare yourself into.”

“To be fair, it was also 2016. It was like five years ago. So obviously, I didn’t do any endurance racing after that, but to be honest, you learn just a bit more about the weekend like how to prepare yourself.”

“I learned more I think doing the Asian Le Mans Series at the start of the year just to prepare for myself again for this year and, and come back to that groove of what’s it like, the approach of the weekend.”

“It’s not that one lap or that first three laps, you have a lot of time and there are room for smaller mistakes,” he continued, comparing WEC to F2. “If you’re not on it at the pace initially, like you still have time, things like that.”

“Even in free practice sessions, you just have time to get yourself into a rhythm. Your first lap doesn’t have to be your best lap. Where usually in F2 or in an F1 weekend, because of the tires because of how short the timing of driving [is], you need to be on it straight away.”