Lamborghini completes the 6h of Imola in 12th place, making further small steps forward in this second round faced by the SC63 in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
It is clear that for the LMDh del Toro managed by the Iron Lynx team the road is decidedly uphill and the performances still cannot make both the standard bearers of Sant'Agata Bolognese and the fans fully satisfied, but on the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari However, the Emilian prototype avoided trouble and ran a difficult race at times without any problems, with crazy weather that shuffled the cards.
The only problem the #63 driven by Mirko Bortolotti, Edoardo Mortara and Daniil Kvyat had was with the power steering, which was then promptly fixed by the mechanics, as well as the start of a fire due to the overheating of the brakes, caused by a damaged sensor, which caused a cleaning operation was requested after the commissioners had intervened with the fire extinguishers.
#63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63: Mirko Bortolotti, Edoardo Mortara, Daniil Kvyat
Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo
In Qualifying this time it was Bortolotti's turn to try for the best possible time and his 1'31”862 was 16th, eliminating him from the fight for the Hyperpole.
“In Qualifying we stopped 0″7 from the Top10 and we certainly made progress compared to Qatar, in general. We must think about growing by taking one step at a time, it is clear that we are not happy with the starting position, but I am happy with what we have managed to do considering the general picture”, said the Trentino native speaking at the end of the session with the journalists present, including Motorsport.com.
In the race, Lamborghini struggled to keep up with its rivals, still having to sort out various things to find the right pace to be in front, but Bortolotti recovered ground in the early stages and then handed over the wheel to Mortara and Kvyat, who between the wet and The wet/dry final took the SC63 to the checkered flag in 12th.
“I'm very happy with our race. At the start I got off to a good start from 16th place and we climbed to 11th in just a few laps. I had an excellent double stint and we can be happy to have, once again, brought the car home demonstrating great reliability”, continues Bortolotti.
“We know there is work to do, but we had a consistent race and the whole team did a fantastic job, from which we can start again and build the future.”
“I see progress and I am convinced that we will make it in the future too, the objective was to finish the race without experiencing any problems, aware that we are not yet at the pace to compete with those in front. There were some problems in the Free Practice, but the 'we solved it and therefore we just had to do a clean race without errors and adopting a good strategy.”
“We are two years behind the others and it is the first time that Lamborghini has built a prototype, without ever having raced at Le Mans and on most of the tracks this year. We are fighting against some of the greats, so it is clear that we have to catch up with calm and working on all areas. These are the challenges we like.”
“It's always nice and special to race at Imola, it's the home track for Lamborghini and for me. First of all, it's fantastic to have all these fans and experience this atmosphere.”
#63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63: Mirko Bortolotti, Edoardo Mortara, Daniil Kvyat
Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo
Mortara adds: “In the end it was a positive day, it is the second time that we have finished a WEC race without problems, an important result taking into account that this car is completely new and that we are also improving performance every weekend since its debut in Qatar. We hope that the next race can go better, even if this weekend was a success for us and we are eager to achieve more in the future.”
Kvyat echoes this: “The team did a good job, despite the variable weather conditions. We know there is a lot of work to do, but we are certainly on the right path. Now we need to exchange as much information as possible to improve the car from every point of view.”
“We still have to be happy with today's results because 12th place was our best result so far. It was difficult to ride in these conditions, I had a lot to do and experienced some thrilling moments, but I had fun.”
Emmanuel Esnault, Iron Lynx Racing Manager, comments: “The race was full of promise and we are pleased overall with how the weekend went. We continued to work and improve, quickly resolving the initial issues we encountered, and working without problems on race day, despite the difficult environmental situations, wear and tear and weather conditions which created further problems”.
“We are determined to continue this progress at Spa-Francorchamps and on the road to Le Mans. The next few weeks will be important and demanding for all of us, with the preparation work for the 24h and some tests, but we will give our all and continue to work as hard as possible. more likely”.
Rouven Mohr, Chief Technical Officer and Head of Motorsport of Lamborghini Squadra Corse, comments: “It was a very emotional race, especially because there were so many fans at our home race. Imola is always very special and the performances have improved going in the right direction. This means that we are learning a lot race after race and I'm very happy about it.”
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