Jota Sport will compete in the full FIA World Endurance Championship season in 2016 after announcing on Friday that it has acquired an Oreca 05 Nissan for use in next year's season.

The British team is competitive in the European Le Mans Series will continue to contest the continental championship next year with a Gibson 015S Nissan as they transition into the new-for-2017 LMP2 class regulations.

This announcement marks a very exciting era for Jota Sport,” Jota Sport partner Sam Hignett said. “We’re very much looking forward to working closely with Hugues de Chaunac’s ORECA operation and of course racing its fabulous 05 or 06 Coupe which pipped us to LMP2 class honors at Le Mans this year.”

The team's new long-term partnership with the French manufacturer will bring two Oreca 05 chassis to the team by the end of the year. One of the two will be run in 2016 with the mindset of testing and development.

To work with such a squad, for us as a manufacturer, is very exciting,” said ORECA President Hugues de Chaunac. “I’ve had discussions with Jota in the past and I’m happy these have now turned into a great project."

Winners in the LMP2 category at Le Mans in 2014, Jota also have been running the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps since 2012, winning the LMP2 class twice. With the Le Mans and Spa wins, Simon Dolan says race wins and the LMP2 class championship are "definitely our aim and within our grasp."

Jota Sport, sitting atop the European Le Mans Series points entering this weekend's penultimate race at Paul Ricard, has not yet announced the 2016 driver lineups for the ELMS and new WEC programs.

The chassis move from Gibson to ORECA is them moving early to one of the four approved chassis constructors for 2017. Gibson, the team's longtime chassis partner, opted to not place a bid to be a constructor under the new regulations, but is perhaps one of the finalists for the spec engine contract - which is likely to be announced in the next week.

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Aaron Durant is the editor of the VAVEL USA Racing section. Follow him on Twitter at @DoubleA291.

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Aaron Durant
Eighteen-year-old aspiring motorsports journalist. I lead The Apex as its editor-in-chief. Read my work at TheApex.racing.