Lamborghini SC63 achieves historic top 10 on Le Mans 24 Hours debut.
Lamborghini Iron Lynx entered two Hypercars for their first appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the #63 with Mirko Bortolotti, Daniil Kvyat and Edoardo Mortara and the #19 with Matteo Cairoli, Andrea Caldarelli and Romain Grosjean. Both Hypercars crossed the finish line of the French classic. The #63 finished in the top 10 and collected its first points in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) drivers' standings. Its sister car, the #19, crossed the chequered flag in thirteenth position. This result once again demonstrated the SC63's great reliability, with neither car needing to return to the garage for the duration of the race. For Lamborghini Squadra Corse, it was the first time the brand had finished the 24 Hours in seven attempts.
- Test Day went rather well for the two SC63s and their drivers.
- During free practice, the crew of Bortolotti, Mortara and Kvyat concentrated on long runs at the start of the first session before moving on to a qualifying simulation before the grid session in the evening.
- Traffic in GT3 hampered Bortolotti on one of her best laps and a spin at the first corner meant that the #63 - who had nonetheless vastly improved her lap times since FP1 - finished the session fourteenth. It was finally promoted to thirteenth place when the times of the #7 Toyota were deleted for having caused a red flag at the end of the session.
- After qualifying, the team turned its attention to race set-up with two night sessions (two hours on Wednesday in FP2 and a one-hour session for FP4 on Thursday).
- The crew of the #19, who hadn't driven since the 12 Hours of Sebring in March 2024, improved their times during the various sessions.
- At 3pm on Saturday, the hostilities began. Due to changes in the weather forecast, tyre strategy played an important role.
- At the start of the second hour, the forecast rain arrived. While several of the leading teams opted for rain tyres, the #63, confident that the showers would pass, stayed on slicks. This proved to be the right decision as Bortolotti climbed back up to fifth place behind the sister SC63 #19. A spin at the Dunlop chicane caused the #63 to drop back, but it still managed to consolidate its place in the top 15.
- As night fell, the rain returned. Track conditions worsened and the safety car was deployed for four hours.
- When the race resumed at around 7am, the #63 was battling it out with the two Peugeots. It showed a consistent race pace.
- Back on rain tyres when the rain returned and intensified, the #63 climbed back up to 10th place in the final hour. It held this position right up to the finish line, giving Lamborghini its first point in the Drivers' World Championship.
- In the #19, tyre temperature changes also played tricks on the drivers, with a spin taking the #19 into the gravel at Tertre Rouge. An incident with the car's lights forced the team to make bodywork changes during the pit stops. A damaged rear wing and two drive-through penalties ended the team's hopes of scoring points in the standings.
- The #19 team will be back on track at Watkins Glen at the end of June for the third round of the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship.
Mirko Bortolotti, driver of the #63: “I am extremely proud of everybody who is part of this project, Iron Lynx, Lamborghini, all the mechanics, team-mates and engineers, they worked their asses off all week and to finish with both cars at Le Mans on our debut here and having one car finish inside the top 10, it's an amazing achievement. This project started less than a year ago, so an amazing day and really happy with how we executed the race. For sure, we still have a lot of work to do, we know that, but we are going to enjoy this result and focus on the next steps.”
Daniil Kvyat, driver of the #63: “It is really an amazing result for us, we have to enjoy this result, which is a great reward for all the hard work that the team has put in since the start of the season. The next steps we have to take are crucial, but if we have managed to do this result with the car we have got, which is brand new with no upgrades, it shows how strong we are and that in the future we can hopefully fight for victories.”
Edoardo Mortara, driver of the #63: “It was a very important result for us today, firstly to finish the race was a special achievement for us, especially when we are up against the type of competition we have in the FIA WEC, but to get in the top 10 that was the secondary aim. It's been a long time here in Le Mans and a long week of preparation by everyone from the drivers, mechanics and engineers. To reward them like we have is very important and motivating.”
Matteo Cairoli, driver of the #19: “It's difficult to put this result into words, the aim for us since the start of the week was to get to the finish, with both cars. We had a very good pace, and I am already looking forward to next year; we have around four-and-a-half minutes more or less to recover in 365 days, which is not that much when you think about it. The result is what it is, that doesn't matter but to see the flag after 11 months of hard work is amazing and we have to be proud. What we have done today is magic.”
Andrea Caldarelli, driver of the #19: “We achieved the target we had in mind for this first time at Le Mans, which was to reach the finish. We did everything we could to get to the end; we had a lot of things happen to us during the race, a lot of things that were trying to stop us, but I am really happy for all of the guys in Sant'Agata and Iron Lynx who worked so hard for this race. There is just a little bit of bittersweet feelings because I really thought we had a good shot [at points] because the race pace was very promising, but the overall feeling is pride.”
Romain Grosjean, driver of the #19: “I never finished the first Le Mans I did so I am really proud that we managed to get to the end this year. Honestly, driving the Lamborghini was a dream, in the day and in the night, it was so much fun. Thanks go to everyone in the team for the opportunity; I always wanted to do it and no I have done it. There are, of course, bits and pieces that we can improve in order to get into the top 10, even if it wasn't our open objective – and it's great that the other did it – but I think we also had top 10 pace this weekend.”
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Photo credit : Lamborghini SC