IMSA : The Lamborghini SC63 wins its first GTP points at the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Following its debut in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) last January, the Lamborghini SC63 made its debut in the American IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IMSA) in the GTP category, on 16 and 17 March 2024. And it was at the extremely demanding 12 Hours of Sebring that the #63 LMDh from the Italian brand once again demonstrated its great reliability by crossing the finish line in a very honorable seventh place. A competitive debut on American soil that bodes well for the rest of the Lamborghini SC63's campaign.
- The three free practice sessions gave the crew of the #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini, composed of Matteo Cairoli, Andrea Caldarelli and Romain Grosjean, the opportunity to discover this new playing field. This first competitive outing on the bumpy Sebring circuit presented some initial problems, which were quickly rectified by the team.
- The #63 completed 18 laps and finished tenth in the first session. In Free Practice 2, the team carried out a qualifying simulation and climbed to second place in the standings with a best time of 1:49.492, before moving on to the third session.
- Qualifying took place on Friday. A long red flag interrupted the session and prevented most of the teams from completing more than one lap during the session. Matteo Cairoli managed to place the #63 in eighth position on the grid.
- Matteo Cairoli took the start. The first laps of the race were disrupted by several periods of Full Course Yellow (FCY). In the third hour, he handed over to Romain Grosjean. Then it was Andrea Caldarelli's turn.
- With four hours to go, a loose door forced the #63 to make an unscheduled stop, causing it to lose a lap. Thanks to a well-executed strategy involving a pit stop during a FCY, the #63 was back on the lead lap.
- A faultless final stint and a spin by a rival at the end of the race enabled the #63 to claim a fine seventh place, just a few hundredths of a second behind the BMW in sixth.
Matteo Cairoli: “I really didn't expect this result, but I am really happy with what we achieved in this first official race for us in this car. I want to thank the whole team because they have never stopped working during the weekend. Finishing 20-seconds behind the winner, after 12 hours of racing and on a track like this, is an important result so we must enjoy it we will certainly be more competitive in the next rounds.”
Andrea Caldarelli: “It was a quite fun race, my first double stint we had a very good pace, and I was very confident with the car. At the end, I knew I would probably have to do a triple stint, so I took it quite easy to be sure and I didn't know if we could make it to the finish but at the end, we were able to fight with the two cars in front of us which was a bit unexpected. To finish the race was our target, fighting was not really the target so to be able to do that is all down to the team.”
Romain Grosjean: “I am super happy with the result, we know that the Sebring 12 Hours is one of the toughest races out there, due to the track nature. It is a really positive step therefore, that we managed to finish the race and on the lead lap in P7. There is still a lot that we need to work on, and I am excited for the future.”
Rouven Mohr, Lamborghini CTO and Head of Motorsport: “First of all, let me say that I am delighted with the result of the #63, finishing seventh and on the same lap as the winner of the race is an incredible achievement. Of course, there is always things to do better, and we are aware that we need to close the gap to the front of the of the field, which is still quite far away at the moment. But we have put a lot of effort into this weekend and it has given us extra motivation to fight again in the next round […]”
The next stop for the Lamborghini SC63 will be one of the most important races of the season, when it takes part in the second round of the WEC, on home soil, at Imola, from 19 to 21 April. The SC63 will return to IMSA at Watkins Glen in the summer.
To read the Lamborghini Squadra Corse press release, CLICK HERE.
For the full results, please CLICK HERE.