The British team, which has three LMP2 wins at La Sarthe under its belt, led the centenary running of Le Mans at one stage with its new 963, which had only made its World Endurance Championship debut in the previous race at Spa.
That was until Yifei Ye, who shared the Hertz-sponsored #38 car with Antonio Felix da Costa and Will Stevens, suffered a crash at the Porsche Curves while he was pulling away from the #5 works Penske-run 963 of Dane Cameron.
Jota was able to turn around the car in just 20 minutes, losing four laps to the leaders in the process, before further issues and another crash while da Costa was at the wheel left the #38 crew as the 40th and final classified finisher.
“We were kings of the world for an hour or so, because we led overall and [were also] leading LMP2,” Hignett told Autosport. “I’m not sure anyone else has ever done that as a team. We’ll take that.”
Stevens offered a similar sentiment, highlighting that the team had only taken delivery of the car shortly before the Spa round of the WEC.
“I think we should be proud of what we showed: our pace, and the fact we came from last to get to the front after four hours,” he said, referring to the fact that the Jota car didn’t set a lap in first qualifying due to a hybrid issue.
“It’s easy to forget we’ve only had the car for eight weeks, so I think everyone should be super-proud to have done what we did and what we’ve achieved. It makes me optimistic for the rest of the season and also for next year.”
Chinese youngster Ye took the lead after pitting for slick tyres behind the safety car after the first of two rain showers hit the Circuit de la Sarthe, and was more than 10 seconds clear of Cameron at the time of his crash.
He told Autosport that he was struggling with visibility issues as he suffered his off on what was his in-lap.
“After the safety car ended, I took the lead on the track and opened up a good gap,” he recalled. “But the conditions on track were still tricky, and the windscreen was very dirty.
“Although the rain had stopped, there was still mud on the windscreen and I couldn't get it off, which made it difficult.”
Source: Autosport