The 24h of Daytona marked the track debut of the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 in the updated EVO2 version, but also of the first official collaboration with the Iron Lynx team and Romain Grosjean in the guise of the Casa del Toro driver.
At the first event of the IMSA SportsCar Championship 2023, the cars from Sant’Agata Bolognese certainly suffered from an unfavorable Balance of Performance, and with tenacity the crew of the #63 engaged in the GTD PRO Class managed to get an excellent fourth place in a comeback .
Taking advantage of the neutralizations with the Full Course Yellow-Safety Cars and the withdrawals of others, the green Lamborghini driven by Grosjean together with Andrea Caldarelli, Mirko Bortolotti and Jordan Pepper has always kept in ambush with the hope of reaching a podium which in the excited final little.
“We finished fourth at Daytona, pushing hard and adopting an excellent strategy – said Grosjean – Even the pit stops went well, with my mates and the Iron Lynx team we did a fantastic job, now we move on to Sebring for the next stage with the Lamborghini”.
#63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2: Jordan Pepper, Romain Grosjean, Mirko Bortolotti, Andrea Caldarelli
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
Reached by Motorsport.com, Caldarelli instead admitted that the commitment was not the simplest, but that it was completed in the best possible way by the team and the drivers.
“It was a very demanding weekend, we had already understood from the Roar that we could be uncompetitive as we lacked speed in sectors two and three. We tried to compensate with strategy and run a clean race without errors and penalties”, he told us. the Abruzzo.
“It was tougher than we thought, we fought for what we could and finishing fourth was the best we could do. The team did an outstanding job making a debut in this demanding and complicated race.”
Furthermore, Caldarelli also experienced his first official engagement with his teammate Grosjean, with whom he will then have to work on the LMDh.
“We established an excellent relationship with Romain, we tried to help him as much as possible with the procedures and it certainly wasn’t the easiest race to make a debut in GT3.”
“Honestly, we’ve had a lot of fun these two weeks and it’s important to have a great relationship when you’re teammates in endurance races and I’m glad he shares the same philosophy too.”
#63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2: Jordan Pepper, Romain Grosjean, Mirko Bortolotti, Andrea Caldarelli, #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3: Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, Corey Lewis, Maxime Martin, #3 Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R GTD: Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor, Tommy Milner
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
Pepper, fresh from his engagement in Lamborghini Squadra Corse, was also satisfied: “Fourth place at the finish line was the best, we came close to the podium but, realistically speaking, we knew right from the first lap, when we exited turn 6, that we couldn’t fight to win or to the Top3 as a step”.
“Sometimes it goes like this, but I’m really proud of the whole Iron Lynx team, of Lamborghini and of the performances we had, without making mistakes in the pit lane and on the strategies. We stayed in the lead lap until the end and fighting with the others. A big round of applause also to my team mates who gave their all throughout the race!”
Completing the speech of the Iron Lynx Lamborghinis on the track, the two cars entered in GTD certainly suffered the most from the lack of performance due to the BoP.
The #19 managed to recover from the rear finishing 12th thanks to Claudio Schiavoni, Rolf Ineichen, Raffaele Giammaria and Franck Perera, while the Iron Dames Rahel Frey, Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting and Doriane Pin finished in 18th place with their # 83, also ran into electronics problems.
#83 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2: Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey, Doriane Pin, Michelle Gatting
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
“It was great to kick off our 2023 season at Daytona. It is a historic race and in Roar test week we focused on getting to know the new cars and acclimatizing in the IMSA paddock,” explains Iron Lynx Team Principal Andrea little ones.
“The whole team has done an amazing job, not just this weekend but the previous ones too. They have prepared not one, but three brand new cars for a completely new racing series, for which we all have to be thanked.”
“This is the first race of the season and we have learned a lot of important things. The Balance of Performance took away any chance of us fighting for the win, but we had a great strategy and excellent drivers which allowed us to stay in the lead lap for the whole race. The whole team performed well, making almost zero mistakes throughout the event.”
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