Lamborghini conducted three days of testing earlier this week at the Circuito de Almería in Spain, as Romain Grosjean drove his first laps in the SC63 LMDh.

He was joined by fellow Lamborghini factory driver Andrea Caldarelli, collectively driving nearly 2000 km of mileage at the 4.2 km circuit.

Technicians from Lamborghini and the Italian manufacturer’s team partner, Iron Lynx, were able to simulate full course yellow conditions and restart procedures, often implemented in endurance races to neutralise the race if there are safety concerns.

The team remain set to debut next year competitively at the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Qatar race, which will open the season in early March.

However, the team will not debut the car at the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January, instead waiting until later in the year for its first competitive outing on American soil.

Furthermore, Lamborghini will only race in select IMSA Endurance Cup rounds, which form part of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship. 

Grosjean said: “It was a very intense three days, but I am very happy to have been able to work the team and the car on the track for the first time. 

“The car proved to be very good from the first laps and I can’t wait to put even more kilometres on it during the next tests.

“It felt really good, and I am happy to be in Almería with the whole team and discovering all the people and the work that has been going on behind the scenes. 

“So, I am very excited to be here, the car felt really good from the beginning but obviously we still have a bit of a journey [ahead of us].

“But the work that has been done prior to my arrival has been very good and I am looking forward to learning more about the car.”

The testing programme for the SC63 LMDh will continue in Europe next week.

Additionally, the Iron Lynx test team will move to the United States to continue the homologation process by IMSA, with a series of tests across North American circuits.

Iron Lynx Lamborghini have wrapped up their first on-track outing for their Lamborghini SC63 after a two-day test took place at Imola.

At the beginning of August, an initial shakedown took place at Vallelunga as the Lamborghini Squadra Corse engineers began development work on the SC63, which was unveiled earlier this year at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

It will become the Italian manufacturer’s entry into the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship (Endurance Cup only) and FIA World Endurance Championship next year, with one car in each championship in collaboration with Iron Lynx.

In addition, both cars will race at Le Mans in June — but neither will race at Daytona, with a debut at Sebring for IMSA and the WEC season opener at Qatar.

Official works drivers Mirko Bortolotti, Andrea Caldarelli and Daniil Kvyat all drove the Le Mans Daytona Hybrid (LMDh) machine at the Imola Circuit.

The trio covered 1500 km, focusing on various development areas and calibrations.

The main focus was on the powertrain, which has been developed in-house by Lamborghini Squadra Corse, a bespoke 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 engine, coupled with the 50kW hybrid spec part found in all LMDh cars.

Furthermore, gearshift calibrations were carried out on the Xtrac gearbox unit whilst adjusting it to Lamborghini’s preference of gear ratios and the settings for the limited-slip differential.

Other aspects tested by the team include the speed limiter and traction control calibrations, in addition to overseeing a brake migration, cooling data acquisition and an extensive aerodynamic test.

This is the first LMDh chassis developed by French manufacturer Ligier, as one of the four LMDh approved makers, and is based off the next-generation LMP2 chassis.

Two further tests are set to take place for the remainder of August on European soil once again, at Paul Ricard in France followed by Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.

Lamborghini will run a single cars in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup and the FIA World Endurance Championship next year, the team has confirmed to MotorsportWeek.com.

This means the team will run single entries in FIA WEC, in a full-time programme, and in IMSA, albeit just the longer endurance rounds, held at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, and Road Atlanta, and not the shorter rounds which comprise the full IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship.

Lamborghini initially announced its LMDh entry last May, will a project entry date of 2024. This has now been confirmed, although this far out the Italian manufacturer cannot say when exactly it will make its race debut with the as-yet unveiled car.

While the company, which has partnered with Italian sportscar team Iron Lynx to run the factory programme, will only enter single cars in both championships, it may enter both cars into the WEC’s crown jewel race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It has also signed Mirko Bortolotti, Andrea Caldarelli, and former F1 driver and current IndyCar star Romain Grosjean as factory drivers, although it has not been decided, or at least announced publicly, where drivers will race or in which series yet.

A Lamborghini Squadra Corse spokesman told MotorsportWeek.com, ‘We are evaluating a double effort at Le Mans with both cars in 2024 but it is still to early to confirm that.’

The car is being built in co-operation with Ligier, which is providing the chassis tub. It will be paired with a Lamborghini V8 twin-turbo engine. A planned rollout and testing programme is scheduled for later this year.

Lamborghini will partner with GT outfit Iron Lynx to run its forthcoming prototype campaigns in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship in 2024.

The Italian team, founded by former driver Andrea Piccini, has entered the top flight of sportscar racing very quickly over the last few years.

It’s competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship since 2020, using the Ferrari 488 GTE EVO. This year it ran two cars in the series, plus two more at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This included the ‘Iron Dames’ car, an all-female driving squad crewed by Michelle Gatting, Sarah Bovy, Christina Nielsen and Doriane Pin throughout the season.

It has never run cars in the US, though, but will run Lamborghini’s LMDh campaign in the IMSA GTP class in 2024, alongside the WEC campaign. The full driving crew has so far not been announced, although Lamborghini factory drivers Mirko Bortolotti and Andrea Caldarelli have already been announced for the programme.

The partnership will start as early as next year, with Iron Lynx running a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, before a full season in the IMSA championship. In Europe, it will compete in the GT World Challenge Endurance Cup, with another magenta-coloured car for the Iron Dames squad.

Although an Italian team, Iron Lynx is owned by Swiss company DC Racing Solutions, headed by Debroah Mayer. The Lamborghini programme will also receive engineering support from well-known Italian race team Prema.

Mayer said: “I am really pleased that we can share the news about the partnership between Iron Lynx and Lamborghini, which marks a significant milestone for our group.

“Our championship-winning racing pedigree, combined with the successful motorsport heritage of Lamborghini, will create the perfect mix to deliver a highly competitive performance on track. I am looking forward to this next chapter.”

Meanwhile, Giorgio Sanna, Lamborghini Head of Motorsport, said: “I am extremely proud of the partnership with Iron Lynx.

“It is a team as young as Lamborghini Squadra Corse, which like us, has grown exponentially over the years and has become a protagonist in GT racing around the world after making its debut with us in Super Trofeo in 2018. Now, we find ourselves together again and will strive to be stronger and more mature and set great goals. 

“From GT programmes to LMDh, we have combined the excellence of three Italian organisations, while boasting a technical partnership with PREMA Engineering through Iron Lynx, with whom it is our duty to achieve great results.”

Giancarlo Fisichella will switch teams for the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship, signing with the Iron Lynx operation.

The ex-F1 driver and two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner will drive the team’s #60 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo alongside Claudio Schiavoni and Matteo Cressoni, who have both been retained from last year’s line-up.

Fisichella will embark on his eighth season racing Ferrari machinery in the FIA WEC and his fourth consecutive campaign in the GTE Am class. 

He debuted in the championship in the inaugural season in 2012 and was part of Ferrari’s factory GTE Pro line-up for four years, sealing two GTE Pro class wins at Le Mans alongside further wins at Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps, Interlagos and Bahrain. 

After a few years away from the series, he returned to form a partnership with Francesco Castelacci and Thomas Flohr in GTE Am, first for Spirit of Race and later AF Corse. He was replaced by Nick Cassidy for the 2022 campaign.

The all-female Iron Dames crew, meanwhile, remains unchanged from the 2021 season. The #85 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo will be driven by Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey.

The Italian squad, also competing in the Ferrari Challenge, European Le Mans Series and GT World Challenge Europe, recently unveiled its updated colour schemes for the 2022 season, with the predominantly black liveries from last year inverted to create a significantly brighter on-track presence.

“We are thrilled to announce our driver line-ups and series we’ll be competing in for 2022, with some exciting additions and continuity that can only help push Iron Lynx and Iron Dames further forward in the coming year,” said team principal Andrea Piccini. 

“We had such an incredible year in 2021, and we will approach the upcoming season with that same spirit. We know that it will be difficult to repeat the success of 2021 but this will be our target for this season.”

“The Iron Dames are also delighted to see the return of Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey across multiple championships for 2022.We are looking forward to more positive results, with all three drivers showing already great promise last year.”

Iron Lynx will return to the GTE Am ranks of the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2022 alongside its support role in Prema’s new LMP2 effort.

Both of its Ferrari 488 GTE Evos will be making their return, including the all-female Iron Dames car.

The Italian team made its full-season debut in the championship in 2021 with its two-car effort, with the highlight of the year a third and fourth-placed finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Claudio Schiavoni, part of the crew that contested the majority of last year’s season, has been named as the first driver in the #60 Ferrari.

Rahel Frey, meanwhile, will make her return to the #85 Iron Dames Ferrari as the first driver announced in that entry.

The team says further driver announcements will be made in the coming weeks.

“We’re thrilled to announce our return to FIA WEC this season to compete in the GTE Am category and support Prema ORLEN Team with their first venture in Endurance racing in LMP2,” said team principal Andrea Piccini.

“Both teams have put in a tremendous amount of hard work over the winter months and we’re confident that our passionate teams and talented drivers can lead us in the fight for victory in 2022.”

Juan Manuel Correa has completed a test outing aboard the Prema LMP2 car at Circuit Paul Ricard.

The American driver tested the Italian squad’s ORECA 07-Gibson. The Italian top junior single seater operation will expand into the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2022 as part of a partnership with GT racing stable Iron Lynx.

Correa tested the V8-powered prototype earlier in the week. The number of laps completed, as well as the 22-year-old’s fastest lap time, were not revealed.

“I couldn’t miss this opportunity to try a new experience and I didn’t want to let the chance Prema gave me go,” Correa said. “Two months without driving were too much, so I travelled to Paul Ricard to spend these two days trying something new.”

Correa returned to Formula 3 in 2021 after a year on the sidelines, recovering from injuries sustained in the F2 crash at Spa-Francorchamps in August of 2019. Prior to his F2 crash and subsequent return to F3, he had only raced single seater machinery, meaning the LMP2 outing was his first introduction to closed-cockpit racing cars.

“It was the first time that I drove a prototype, and in fact the first time I’ve driven a car with a roof,” Correa went on to explain. “It was very interesting and there were many things to discover and a lot of new information. I enjoyed it a lot. I had very high speed and this car has a really good potential. I was very happy with the performance and I’m excited to see what the future could bring for me in endurance.

“I want to thank Prema for this opportunity and for their work during these two days. We’ll see what 2022 brings, not only in Endurance, but also in the Formulas and at the right time we’ll announce what my schedule will be.”

Prema and Iron Lynx have yet to announce the line-up for their LMP2 effort in the 2022 WEC, which will kick off with the 1000 Miles of Sebring in March.

Prema and Iron Lynx have announced that they will be fielding a joint entry into the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship.

The two Italian outfits will be campaigning in the LMP2 category, with Prema set to receive new ORECA 07 machinery soon.

It’s currently not known if the team will field a single car, or if it will be a multi-car operation.

The two entities announced earlier in the year that they had established a partnership, combining Prema’s strong single seater track record with Iron Lynx’s experience in endurance racing.

Iron Lynx recently claimed overall honours in the Spa 24 Hours and scored a GTE Am podium at Le Mans, while Prema has long been one of the front running operations in the junior Formula categories.

Iron Lynx Team Principal, Andrea Piccini, commented: “Iron Lynx has achieved important results this season in GT endurance racing and PREMA is widely recognised as one of the best teams in single-seater racing. The expertise from both teams will create the perfect blend to compete at the highest level.”

PREMA Team Principal Rene Rosin added: “This is an incredibly exciting development for our team and will lead us into a highly motivating new dimension.

“We are looking forward to collaborating with the Iron Lynx team to share best practice and knowledge, which we hope will be only the start of a successful future in endurance racing.”

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is one of the biggest races in the world. For the second year running, the French endurance classic will have two all-female squads paving the way and contesting the twice-around-the-clock enduro.

GTE Am is shaping up to be an intense battle with no less than 23 cars taking part. One of them is the #85 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, entered by the Iron Lynx operation.

Dubbed the ‘Iron Dames’, the team is taking part in the race for the third year in a row, but there is one notable difference in the driver line-up as Belgian Sarah Bovy makes her Le Mans debut alongside Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey, who both contested the previous two editions.

That means Frey was also there during the somewhat bizarre 2020 edition, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the famous race behind closed doors for the first time ever.

“It’s always good to be back in Le Mans,” Frey told MotorsportWeek.com. “We are really happy about that fact and we also very happy to have some spectators back but it’s still the same atmosphere. I mean, the paddock it’s still a known bubble and we don’t have the drivers parade yet and so on.

“But nevertheless, we are happy to race. We feel ready to race we we have a strong lineup, we have a strong core, and we believe we can do something great.”

Bovy, 32, makes her Le Mans debut with the squad this weekend. The Belgian has been part of a revolving cast of drivers for the #85 Ferrari. The team started the season with Frey, Katherine Legge and Manuela Gostner.

Gatting then replaced Legge starting at round two at Portimao, before Bovy was inserted in place of Gostner at Monza and now joins the team at Le Mans.

Although new to Le Mans, she is not a new name to endurance racing. Along with a few starts in the W Series, she has previously raced various GT3 cars in what is now the GT World Challenge Europe.

“I’ve been looking up a lot to Rahel and Michelle before my arrival in the team, but also especially since I’m in,” Bovy spoke of her team-mates. “It’s a very specific car to drive, it’s a very specific race to do. So for sure in terms of guidance, I couldn’t do it without their help. That’s 100% certain.”

“Now, it’s true that I had already quite a little bit of endurance experience, it’s not my first 24 hour race, even if it’s the first 24 hours of Le Mans. So it’s good that I have at least a little bit of long race experience, I think it’s going to be very helpful to manage the race properly.”

“But in terms of specifics to Le Mans, for sure. It’s very good to be surrounded by people who have done it already.”

At this point in the interview, Frey takes charge and gives more background about Bovy’s role and arrival at the team.

“What I’d like to mention is – we are really impressed by Sarah so far,” she said. “And we really wanted to give her the chance to do this 24 hour race with us.”

“Basically, she introduced herself to us. She said ‘Do you need some some more support? I’m here and I can jump into a plane like tomorrow’, and this is what she did. I really liked that story. Because basically, this is what what we stand for. Our slogan is ‘We are women driven by dreams’.

“Sarah had a dream to join us. She chased that dream, she worked hard for it, she really called us up. Basically this is something we support a lot and this is also the message we want to spread into the world: keep chasing your dreams and the reality hopefully, will pay off then, that the dream comes true.”

Bovy makes her Le Mans debut in an unusual environment, as this is the first Le Mans since the pandemic started where fans will be back in attendance. It is not yet the full package, with a mere 50.000 fans as opposed to the 250.000 spectators that typically make the pilgrimage to the track under normal circumstances.

According to Bovy, this ‘in between’ version of the event is beneficial to her making her debut.

“I actually think that this is a good year to have a rookie year at Le Mans, because it’s a little bit in between. We have a bit more time to prepare ourselves for the big race.”

“Indeed, we don’t have the parade and it’s very sad, because normally I’m here each year, not as a racing driver, but I follow it very closely. I know the audience, I know how it is and I know also how exhausting it can be for the drivers.”

“So I have the feeling that with everything that happened for me in the last few months, it’s a good thing that I can take it maybe a little bit easier than a normal year. And then hopefully, if I can get back here in the coming years, I hope that I will have a full experience.”

Bovy’s comments echo those made by somebody who made her Le Mans debut last year: Richard Mille Racing Team’s Beitske Visser.

The Dutch racer, also part of the W Series in 2019, is back at Le Mans for her second consecutive year as part of the squad for the #1 Richard Mille Racing Team ORECA 07-Gibson. She shares the car with Tatiana Calderon and Sophia Floersch.

Visser spoke about her experiences during last year’s race earlier in the week, saying that the compressed schedule without fans allowed her to focus on the task at hand better.

“I didn’t have the experience with all the fans but I think on one way it was maybe a bit easier, because it was the first time here for us,” she said. “We had so many things to learn in a short time that we could just focus on the driving part. But now seeing the fans again this year, it’s a lot cooler.”

Visser’s debut in 2020 was something of a last-minute arrangement, as she was not originally intended to race with the team at Le Mans. Instead, she was inserted into the line-up when Katherine Legge sustained injuries from a crash at Paul Ricard.

When asked if she was more prepared for the race now compared to her rookie outing in 2020, Visser replied:

“Definitely. Because last year, I only came in halfway through the season and I was joining the team last year because I was stepping in for another driver and now I’m fully there since the beginning of the year so that makes things a lot easier in preparation for me as well.”

Like the Iron Dames, Visser is part of a full-season World Endurance Championship effort with Floersch and Calderon.

“It’s definitely good to have good team work between the three of us,” Visser spoke of her team-mates. “The fact that I am now there fully makes that easier as well. We just have to work together.”

“It’s a bit different this year with less power and different tyres so there is a lot of new things we still have to learn. But it’s definitely a much better preparation than last year.”

Over at Iron Lynx, the team is well prepared for its third consecutive assault on the race in GTE Am. The team is feeling confident, which reflects in the targets that Frey says the team is setting.

“We got a ninth place now two years in a row. The first year we came to Le Mans, we definitely said ‘first we want to finish the race.'”

“But we grew quickly. We understood very well what it’s all about. With the experience we got the last two years we really believe that we can do well. Now, we feel ready and basically, we want to be better as the last two years.”

“We would say that we want to reach the top five. The competition this year, it’s very high. But Sarah joining us, the practice session went well. We have to believe in us. And we definitely want to go for the top five.”

“We had two years without doing any mistakes,” she continued. “So we already proved that we can stay focused throughout the 24 hours, that we are able not to do mistakes.

“The last two years, we were lacking a little bit of speed, I would say, from driver’s side. So far from the first practice session we felt somehow that we are able to do better than the last two years. And this is something we really want to prove.”

Callum Ilott says that his time in GT racing, including this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, is valuable experience in his career, even if he ultimately ends up in Formula One.

The Ferrari junior is making his debut in the French endurance classic as part of Iron Lynx’s three-car GTE Am effort alongside Matteo Cressoni and Rino Mastronardi.

The 22-year-old is also under contract with Alfa Romeo’s F1 team as a test and reserve driver, and could potentially still be in the running for a race seat with the team.

Even if he ultimately ends up in Formula One, Ilott reckons that his previous outings in the GT World Challenge Europe and this weekend at Le Mans will be valuable lessons as he progresses in his career, also with one eye on Ferrari’s impending Le Mans Hypercar programme.

“It’s experience for either way that I go,” Ilott spoke to MotorsportWeek.com. “Obviously, right now, I am racing GTs but my development and my focus is still with F1. There is still a chance and I’m still in that environment.”

“But depending on the future years, and obviously with the Hypercar program, it makes more sense to have experience in GTs and to be able to jump into the Hypercar if necessary, then not to have it.”

Ilott also spoke about the experience competing in sportscar, stating that it is good for him to be in an environment away from Formula 2.

“Actually this year, it’s been very educational and very good to do something different. I’ve had the whole junior single seaters environment, which is quite stressful, – every weekend, you’re fighting for your career, for your life. Here it’s like restarting and relearning and doing something different.”

“Obviously, with the performance and the speed that I have, I have a good baseline, but there’s lots of little things you need to learn, with the LMP2s, you know, with the [traffic] management and everything, it’s a different style of racing. Also with the bronze drivers as well. It’s something that I have to adapt to. Not that I haven’t experienced, but in a different way.”

“So it’s much better for me to have this experience, almost in my mind a lower pressure year. Because I have, for example, if I was to stick to the GT route, the endurance route, I have this year, I have next year, probably if I was to do that with more opportunities.

“And then if it comes to it, we have the Hypercar the year after so I have that choice to do.”

With various options on the table, Ilott explains that he enjoys having multiple directions to explore in his career, even hinting at a potential move towards racing in IndyCar.

“I could also go to America and do Indy if I wanted and if I get the opportunity, I would also not say no to F1 as well. So I’m in a bit of a fun situation where there’s a few opportunities and a few different routes to do.”

“But in my mind, it’s always best to have the experience where you can get it. And what better way to do it in one of the most competitive GT championships in the world in GT World Challenge.

“We’re close to the top. Obviously, before Spa it was going well. At Spa unfortunately, we were out and we missed out on a lot of points. And then coming to Le Mans, which is the most competitive endurance race I think there is.

“So I can’t complain, really, in the position that I am. And you know, what, I’m actually enjoying it quite a lot and a lot more than I expected to at the beginning of the year.

“Because at the beginning of the year, you know, from single seaters, you always have this thing of ‘maybe I can do GT racing later in the future’, but it’s good.”