Jota Sport has named its second open-wheel driver to its lineup for Spa and Le Mans, in the form of GP2 veteran and past GP3 champion Mitch Evans.
Evans will join fellow open-wheel veteran and recent sports car convert Nick Yelloly and Simon Dolan in the team’s No. 38 Gibson 015S Nissan for those two races.
Evans effectively replaces Filipe Albuquerque, who will race for Jota full-time in the European Le Mans Series but misses the Spa and Le Mans FIA World Endurance Championship rounds due to his commitments with Audi Sport.
The 20-year-old driver from New Zealand is Mark Webber’s protege. Evans is signed up with the Russian Time team for another full season of GP2, his third in the championship.
“I’ve never raced a sportscar and only drove one for the very first time last month but I don’t see this an issue,” said Evans.
“I’ll use my single-seater experience to get to grips with the LM P2 sports-prototype as fast as possible. I’ve followed sportscar racing for many years and Le Mans has always been on my bucket list.”
“My aim at Spa will be to learn this new style of racing and gaining experience with driver changes. For Le Mans, the goal will be to help Jota win LM P2 again,” he added.
“I’m very excited to welcome Mitch to Jota Sport. Hopefully he will help us in successfully defending our Le Mans LM P2 title,” said Jota Sport owner and driver Simon Dolan.
“He is without doubt one of the best young single-seater drivers out there. With a proven track record of speed and bringing a car home in one piece.”
“I’m sure he’ll adjust quickly to sportscar racing and I am certain he’ll fit in with JOTA Sport immediately.”
