It is a meeting with history, that of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europa, which in the same week as the 24 Hours arrives at Le Mans for the first time for the third of the six double events of the season.
On the circuit de la Sarthe, where the Super Sport Trophy began in 1996 (Lamborghini’s single-make trophy reserved for the Diablo SV-R and contested just under thirty years ago), the championship which today sees the Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 as protagonists celebrates with a field of over 50 cars marks the milestone of 200 races.
After the first two rounds in Imola and Spa-Francorchamps, both combined with the FIA WEC World Championship, the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europa stops on the 13.6 km Le Mans track, which this week sees the Hypercar debut in the 24 Hours SC63 LMDh, of which the Lamborghini Iron Lynx team will field two examples.
Amaury Bonduel steps up to the Pro
In France the continental single-make series reaches the halfway point with a total of 82 drivers and 51 crews at the start. There are 21 cars present in the Pro. At the top of the standings is Amaury Bonduel. The Belgian from the BDR Competition by Grupo Prom team, winner of the 2023 World Finals, has achieved three successes in a row, the first in Imola and the other two on his home track of Spa, and now leads with a 9.5 point advantage in the against the Target Racing pairing of Largim Ali and Oliver Söderström, who also prevailed in the first of the two opening round races at the Santerno.
Further behind, 24.5 points from the leadership, are Leonardo Caglioni and Enzo Geraci, both making their debut in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe this year, and immediately on the lowest step of the podium in Imola with the colors of the Oregon Team.
Also on the podium were Sebastian Balthasar and Jacob Riegel (Leipert Motorsport), just three points behind and fourth in the championship. Next in the ranking are the Rexal Villorba Corse pairing of Benedetto Strignano and Alberto Di Folco, the latter absent at Le Mans due to a concurrent commitment with the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 in the Italian Gran Turismo Endurance Championship.
Also doing well in the first part of the season was the Swede Hampus Ericsson, brother of the Indycar driver Marcus, second in Spa with another car from the Target Racing team. Similar story for the two crews of the Iron Lynx, Giorgio Amati-Jesse Salmenautio and Stefan Bostandjiev-Pavel Lefterov and Egor Orudzhev (ART-Line), who achieved third place each.
Mattia Michelotto is expected with VSR, who together with the Belgian Gilles Stadsbader with a Lamborghini from Vincenzo Sospiri’s team, is also currently leading the Tricolore GT Sprint with two victories out of four races under his belt.
In the Pro-Am Formanek and Rosina are looking for confirmation
With a victory in Imola and two second places, the Micanek Motorsport powered by Buggyra team duo of Bronek Formanek and Stefan Rosina are leading the Pro-Am class. Renaud Kuppen and Roee Meyuhas (Boutsen VDS) achieved two successes, separated by six and a half points. Immediately behind, a couple of lengths away, follows the Iron Lynx duo of Claude-Yves Gosselin and Joran Leneutre.
A victory so far also for Andrea Frassineti and Ignazio Zanon, who won in Spa with the VSR team. However, ahead of them in the championship are Miloš Pavlović-Alessio Ruffini (ASR) and the Lamborghini Stüttgart by Target Racing crew made up of Guido Luchetti and Calle Bergman; the latter will be absent at Le Mans and his place will be taken by Cam Aliabadi, usual protagonist in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America. Other new arrivals include Alex Liang Jiatong and Stanislav Minsky, who will take turns in a Lamborghini from the Harmony Racing team.
Maximum balance in the Am class
Only one point in the Am class separates the leaders Pietro Perolini and Davide Roda (Oregon Team) from the VSR team crew made up of Piergiacomo Randazzo and Stéphane Tribaudini, who each achieved one success in the first two rounds.
Not far from the latter, against whom he pays just three and a half points, is the Belgian Nigel Bailly, who inaugurated the season by winning his first victory in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europa in Imola with the ART-Line. All within ten points of the top of the standings, Huilin Han (Target Racing) and Stéphane Guerin, author of a victory at Spa with the Schumacher CLRT team, still follow, completing the top-5 in that order.
Americans Glenn McGee and Anthony McIntosh return to Le Mans with Leipert Motorsport, absent in Belgium after scoring a third and second place in Imola. Debut for the Chinese Haowen Luo and Jia Jun Song with Vortex Racegraph, a team usually involved in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia.
The first two crews of the Lamborghini Cup are half a point away
Two second places, a victory at Spa and a zero: this is the balance of the first two rounds of the season for Holger Harmsen (GT3 Poland), leader of the Lamborghini Cup with an advantage of only half a point over the ASR duo formed by Paolo Biglieri and Petar Matić, who have also been on the podium three times so far and in Belgium were the authors of their first success of the season.
Six points away from the lead is Charlie Martin, who will return to Le Mans to alternate with Jason Keats (absent at Spa) and with whom he won a success in Imola at the wheel of the Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 of the Brutal Fish Racing Team . The expert Shota Abkhazava (ART-Line) follows one point behind, again scoring in Imola. Also seeking glory with Rexal Villorba Corse are Luciano and Donovan Privitelio, father and son in order, completing the top five positions in the standings.
200 races for the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europa
The 200th race of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europa which will take place on Thursday 13 June, represents an important milestone for Lamborghini Squadra Corse, which introduced the single-make championship in 2009. Since the inaugural race which was held on the Adria track, the series reserved for of the Sant’Agata Bolognese company has evolved, using different car models.
The first was the Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo, used until 2012. From 2013 to 2015, the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Super Trofeo was used. The Lamborghini Huracán LP 620-2 Super Trofeo also made its debut in 2015 and was also a protagonist during the following two seasons. From 2018 until 2021 the Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO was used. Finally, the Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 made its debut in 2022, which is the model still used today.
The program
The long week at Le Mans of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europa will come into full swing tomorrow, Wednesday 12 June, with the 45-minute free practice session scheduled to start from 10.30 am, while the qualifying sessions (two sessions of 20 minutes each) will take place starting in the afternoon at 5.30pm.
The first of the two races, which on this occasion will be played in a total time of 45 minutes (five less than the standard duration), will start on Thursday at 1.15pm. After the traditional Parade on Friday, the action on the track will resume on Saturday at 9.15am with Race 2, which will precede the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Both races will be broadcast live on the Lamborghini Squadra Corse YouTube channel and live on Sky Sport.
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