FIA World Endurance Championship team Jota is in a race against the clock to get one of its cars ready for the 24 Hours of Le Mans after a mammoth crash in practice.
Callum Ilott damaged his Porsche 963 so badly that the team has been forced to replace the carbon monocoque.
Ilott was able to walk away from the crash, which came with less than a minute to go in the session, but left the team with a massive repair.
Stan Sport is the only place to watch the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the FIA World Endurance Championship. All the action streaming ad free, live and on demand
Previously, the team built a car in three weeks. They’ll have to rebuild the No.12 car in a day to make the race.
It’s hoped the Porsche will be ready by Friday evening (local time).
ULTIMATE GUIDE: Against the odds, F1 champ seeks ultimate prize
READ MORE: Bizarre twist as Cody Simpson eyes ‘last throw of the dice’
READ MORE: ‘Shell-shocked’ Sharks humbled as Hynes dealt blow
Ilott had set a time fast enough to get them into the Hyper Pole shootout. They will start the race in eighth if their car is ready in time.
It’s unlikely the car will be ready for the last practice session but the event’s organisers have given Jota dispensation to shake the car down at a local airfield.
https://twitter.com/FIAWEC/status/1801016589048791542?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“This is definitely going to be the fastest we have ever put a 963 together since we started this project last year,” team principal Sam Hignett told Autosport.
“These are complex racing cars, but we have to do it by Friday evening this time and we are confident we can do it.
“That’s our target because the guys are going to have a long night tonight and we want to give them a proper night’s sleep ahead of the start of the race on Saturday.”
The rebuild will essentially take all the working parts from the crashed car and attach them to a new carbon chassis.
https://twitter.com/FIAWEC/status/1801279869982056913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Porsche supplied Jota with a new chassis on Thursday night (local time) to begin the build.
“It’s effectively just a chassis swap,” Hignett explained.
“All the running gear and bodywork has to come from our car – those are the rules.”
UK-born Ilott is set to contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans with countryman Will Stevens and Frenchman Norman Nato.
Ilott and Stevens won the most recent round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Spa, in Belgium a month ago.
https://twitter.com/JotaSport/status/1801287513421815828?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The 24 Hours of Le Mans gets underway at midnight on Saturday with coverage on Stan Sport from 11pm AEST.