Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA’s leadership believes that bringing Antonio Felix da Costa and Ricky Taylor into the driver lineup will further elevate the outfit’s odds for the 2027 FIA World Endurance Championship season.
The American manufacturer had already revealed, ahead of the Barcelona round last month, that da Costa and Taylor would be joining the cadre responsible for piloting its pair of Cadillac V-Series.Rs next year, taking over from Alex Lynn and Sebastien Bourdais.
Da Costa is effectively returning to JOTA Sport, the squad he last competed for in 2023 when it ran a privately entered Porsche 963, following Alpine’s withdrawal from the program.
Taylor comes into the fold alongside current JOTA driver Jack Aitken, taking on dual full-time commitments across the World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He also made a brief appearance for the team in this year’s Lone Star Le Mans round.
Commenting on the decision, team principal Dieter Gass stressed the advantages of drivers competing in the V-Series.R as often as possible, and he believes the revamped lineup will give Cadillac the best possible chance in a highly competitive Hypercar field.
“Obviously the first thing that you’re looking at is the talent that you can get into the car, and I think we already have a very good base from this year,” Gass told Sportscar365. “Having Antonio and Ricky is only going to enhance that situation.”
“We have seen it with Jack, and Earl [Bamber] and Will [Stevens] as well, that if you’re running both championships it’s just going to help the whole operation — not only the drivers, who get more and more used to the car and become more able to exploit the car, but as well the teams, because you have better information exchange.”
“Even though you have a full transparency in terms of data, still to get first-hand feedback from the drivers is very useful for everybody.”
“So it’s a good situation for everybody there to have Ricky in the car. He is familiar to GM as well, which is an additional help. And then we know Antonio very well.”
“The contact with Antonio never stopped; he was always somehow present in the team’s mind because of our shared history. We’ve had some very good experience from the past, and so I think we’re really in a good position for 2027.”
He added: “We are not unhappy with the driver’s performance that we have seen this year. But we know that the field is super-tight.”
“It’s really a matter of the small fractions of improvement that you can make here and there, and putting the drivers in the line-up together so that they work well together and cooperate well with the team, I think that’s going to be the key.”
Gass also clarified that the exact crews for the two JOTA Cadillacs for next year had not yet been decided, and he would not be drawn on whether the team would keep the same drivers in the No. 12 and No. 38 cars next season.
When asked why Taylor was selected over other Cadillac IMSA roster members, Gass said: “When you look at the overall situation and he has proven results, proven record of success that he had, so we wanted to have that talent in the car.”
“I think as well it will be a very good opportunity for him to race at a world championship level. Even though he has had some significant success already, I think we’re going to see a lot more from him.”
With two JOTA drivers now committed to double duties, they will be split across Cadillac’s WeatherTech Championship squads, with Aitken driving for Action Express Racing and Taylor for his father’s Wayne Taylor Racing outfit.
This year, Aitken and Bamber shared a single car for Action Express, but Gass explained this was not the primary reason for moving Bamber to a Michelin Endurance Cup-only role for 2027.
“I’ve spoken about having the drivers driving both championships, which is an advantage, but obviously they are very busy as well, so it’s a matter of management, of their time and everything,” Gass said when asked about Bamber’s situation.
