The inaugural day of the IMSA tests in Daytona saw Lamborghini shine with its SC63 LMDh, the prototype with which the Sant’Agata Bolognese company will race starting from 2024 in both the WEC and IMSA.
The SC63, which took to the track for the first time with Andrea Caldarelli. signed the unofficial best time in the GTP class, but, let’s remember, the Italian brand will not take part in the 24 Hours of Daytona scheduled for January: the SC63 will make its debut in the IMSA at Sebring.
Therefore, although Lamborghini will not race at Daytona, it had to take part in the tests for IMSA homologation and the data collection for the definition of the related Balance of Performance.
Andrea Piccini, boss of the Iron Lynx team that manages the SC63, said he was surprised by what he saw last Wednesday, but in Sant’Agata the feet remain firmly on the ground. There is still a lot to do to improve the car in view of the seasonal debut both in the Old Continent and across the Atlantic.
“I think the car is on a good development path,” said Piccini. “The first day was very positive, the machine worked without any major problems.”
“Honestly, the pace is there, the time was excellent, we were even a little surprised to be so competitive straight away, but there is a lot to do to make the car reliable, to be able to race consistently, to use the tires correctly. There is a lot to do.”
Photo by: Richard Dole / Motorsport Images
#63: Lamborghini Iron Lynx, Lamborghini SC63, GTP: Romain Grosjean, Andrea Caldarelli, Mirko Bortolotti, Daniil Kvyat
“In the morning we had a slow start because we had some things to finish. In IMSA things are a little different than in the WEC. Here, at 7pm, everything closes, while in Europe we work until late at night. We had a lot of work to do and little time to do it, so we had to get it done in the morning.”
“Certainly what we saw was very encouraging. It’s encouraging to be leading in the first session.”
Piccini also said he was satisfied with the progress the car has made after the accident that occurred to Mirko Bortolotti at Paul Ricard: “I think something like this should be taken into account. There are accidents like this during the development of the car. C ‘there were tests planned immediately afterwards, but we changed the program with other activities.”
“I can’t say it’s good to have an accident, but it showed some areas we needed to improve on the car. From something that was definitely a negative, we took some positives and we have a stronger and certainly more reliable car.”
“The test program ran without any major problems from the start, apart from the first day where we had to adjust some small things on the engine. We got good mileage on all the days of testing we did, with a few small problem here and there, parts to change and adjust, a lot of electronic settings to be in the right power range to use the hybrid system correctly.”
“So we are far from perfect, let’s say, regarding the hybrid part of the engine. Overall, though, things have gone well.”
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