The debut of the brand new Lamborghini SC63 in the FIA World Endurance Championship ended with good information gathered during the Prologue staged in Qatar between Monday and Tuesday.
The LMDh #63 del Toro prepared by Iron Lynx completed 196 laps of the Lusail International Circuit in the three sessions in which it took part, with Mirko Bortolotti, Daniil Kvyat and debutant Edoardo Mortara ultimately clocking a 1'42″556 as best time, without looking for the limit time.
The standard bearers of Sant'Agata Bolognese are still in their infancy with the Ligier chassis prototype which faces real competition for the first time in its life.
Apart from the replacement of the differential and related check on the gearbox, and a small problem with the steering wheel fixed on Monday evening, the operations took place without any particular hitches, with the aim of clocking up km to grow by taking one step at a time, like the drivers themselves are keen to underline.
#63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63: Mirko Bortolotti, Edoardo Mortara, Daniil Kvyat
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
“We did everything we wanted to do for the Prologue, considering Lusail is a new track for us, so it was important to get laps in. The car seems to be quite reliable and hasn't had any major issues, which is a good start, I'd say “, admits Bortolotti.
“Obviously, we would like to have a little more performance and fight with the leaders. We're not there yet, but this is the first race and there's some sort of process going on.”
“We have to keep our heads down and keep working, this is our main objective and we will continue like this in Free Practice.”
Kvyat also underlines that for the moment the desire to push must be kept in check: “We have completed a good number of laps and even if we are not where we would like to be, there is a lot of work to do, which is interesting.”
“We continue to improve, the expectations for the race are not very high in terms of results, but we want to do as many laps as possible and learn the car more and more. It will be a great opportunity to make important steps forward.”
Mirko Bortolotti, Edoardo Mortara, Daniil Kvyat, Lamborghini Iron Lynx
Photo by: Lamborghini Squadra Corse
On his first outing in the series, Mortara also had to settle in: “So far it's been really nice to get a first taste of the FIA WEC, starting this journey together and testing the car on the track with the others to evaluate its competitiveness. We were all very curious and even a little anxious.”
“It was good to see that we had a problem-free Prologue, we did quite a few laps. Now we still have to work a bit on the performance and feeling of the car, but I'm quite optimistic judging by the fact that for us it's just the beginning”.
#WEC #Lamborghini #opportunity #important #steps