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Lamborghini leads first laps in IMSA with Grosjean before race ends after contact with GTD car

Sant’Agata Bolognese/Indianapolis, 22 September 2024 – Lamborghini Iron Lynx battled for the podium positions for a large portion of the penultimate round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway before unfortunate contact brought a premature end to the six-hour Battle on the Bricks.

The #63 crew of Romain Grosjean, Matteo Cairoli and Andrea Caldarelli demonstrated strong pace on a wet track, and twice led the overall race thanks to a superb stint from Grosjean at the wheel. The car was again on the cusp of the podium with Cairoli despite a drivethrough penalty but was forced out with a puncture and subsequent broken suspension with just over 90 minutes remaining following contact with a lapped car.

The performance, which comes after a positive showing at Watkins Glen in June, nevertheless left the Lamborghini Iron Lynx team with fresh optimism of its SC63 LMDh prototype ahead of the final round of the IMSA championship in October, the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

Free Practice and Qualifying – GTP

Having not driven the Indianapolis Road Course track before, free practice offered the team time to gather data and understanding on Friday and Saturday. The opening session was interrupted by a red flag, but the #63 still managed to amass an impressive 52 laps with Grosjean’s early time of 1m17.151 good enough for the 10th quickest time. The team then went to work on different setup options for the second session, in which the #63 ended up third quickest. Despite continuing struggles with building tyre temperatures, the drivers reported generally positive feedback on the balance of the SC63 in race trim, while yet more data was gathered with another strong haul of 58 laps in FP2. Grosjean was handed the responsibility of qualifying the #63 and he put the car 10th on the grid, just under a second off the ultimate pace. Despite an early spin after taking a bit too much kerb at turn eight, Grosjean’s times improved lap after lap, with his best effort, a 1m15.495, just under a tenth behind the ninth-placed Porsche.

Race – GTP

Grosjean took the start in the #63 and, after initially dropping a position, settled into 10th place before the rain – which had threatened pre-race – arrived inside the opening quarter of an hour. As the track became wetter, the #63 opted to stay out on track and moved up to fourth place. Eventually, with the second full course caution of the race coming as the rain intensified, the SC63 switched to wet weather tyres. The car then came to life at the restart and pressurised the #25 BMW and #01 Cadillac in front. As one of the fastest drivers on track at that point, Grosjean made the most of a mistake from the BMW and then passed the Cadillac around the outside of turn seven to grab second. Happy with the balance of the car in these conditions, Grosjean then started his pursuit of the leading #6 Porsche and reduced what had been a six-second margin to nothing before sensationally taking the lead at turn nine. The #63 pulled away immediately, establishing a two-second advantage before Grosjean pitted to change over with Cairoli. Unfortunately, a procedural error at the pit-stops meant the #63 had to serve a drivethrough penalty which dropped the car to 10th place and a lap down, but alternative pit strategy allowed Cairoli, who was also lapping comparatively with the leaders in GTP, to pit from fourth place before handing over to Caldarelli. As the track dried out, the pace suffered, but Caldarelli still showcased the strong raceability of the #63 by passing two cars before being hit by a lapped GTD Ford Mustang at turn 10, damaging the suspension and forcing the retirement with 90 minutes left.

Free Practice and Qualifying – GTD and GTD Pro

All four Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2s arrived in Indianapolis with a point to prove after a dismal outing at Watkins Glen. In GTD, the #78 Forte Racing crew of Misha Goikhberg, Loris Spinelli and Devlin DeFrancesco started strongly in practice, showing excellent one-lap pace to finish second in FP1 and third in FP2. Opening practice was challenging for the #83 Iron Dames combination of Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting but things improved in FP2, the magenta Huracán placing fifth. It was a similar story for the #45 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti trio of Graham Doyle, Kyle Marcelli and Danny Formal who emerged 10th quickest in the second session. Come qualifying, the #78 remained the best of the Huracáns in seventh, one place ahead of the #45 with the #83 completing the top 10. All three moved up one position on the grid due to a penalty for another car. In GTD Pro, the new pairing of Maximilian Paul and Luca Engstler in the #19 Iron Lynx, ended up 10th in class, just seven-tenths of a second away from pole.

Race – GTD and GTD Pro

The race had barely begun before it ended for the #19 Iron Lynx Huracán, as Paul made contact with another car while attempting to pass at turn 10. The ensuing incident caused terminal suspension damage to the front of the car, forcing it out within the opening five minutes and bringing out the first full course caution. In GTD, the #78 ran strongly inside the top 10 early on with DeFrancesco at the wheel and cycled to the lead as the rain started to fall harder towards the end of the hour. The team elected not to change to wet tyres during the first FCY but were forced to follow the rest of the field onto wets but took the restart in a promising third place with Goikhberg. Spinelli took over for the remainder of the race and, produced a great comeback in the last hour to bring the car home fourth at the finish. The #45 WTRAndretti Huracán also showed glimpses of potential early on, running as high as fifth and took a turn in the lead amid the pit cycle. It finished 10th. Meanwhile, it was another race to forget for the #83 Iron Dames car, which struggled for overall performance before retiring with an issue at the front-left corner.

Quotes

Matteo Cairoli: “It was a positive race until the point where we had to retire. I think we have shown great potential in the wet conditions, but we have some work to do to keep the pace in the dry conditions which is still quite tough. Overall, I am quite happy with the performance in general but obviously very disappointment about the result. Today was a day where we deserved a good result.”

Andrea Caldarelli: “It was not the easiest stint to drive for me, already at the pit-stop we had a small issue, so we came out in P10. Then I managed to pass two cars two or three laps before the contact with the Mustang. I am sure it was not my fault; I was on the inside and I think the guy just didn’t see me and unfortunately, he hit my left-rear tyre which then broke the suspension and we had to retire. It’s a pity and I am really upset about it because we had a lot of potential, maybe not in the dry conditions but we were very quick in the wet. This weekend we deserved a much better result.”

Romain Grosjean: “I think there are a lot of positives to take from this weekend, in FP2 we were third quickest, qualifying was a bit more difficult but, in the race, we improved step by step and there are some good things coming [with this project]. In the wet, we were flying, the car was amazing, so I managed to take the lead and pull away which was fantastic. Of course, operationally in this championship, there are things that we have to improve but generally it was a really positive weekend. It’s a shame we had to retire but we will analyse and make it stronger, and we will come back for the Petit Le Mans which will be another battle.”