Iron Lynx – Syndication Server

Mercedes confirms WEC GT3 program with Iron Lynx

Mercedes-AMG is set to join the FIA World Endurance Championship and return to the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time in 26 years in 2025, with a two-car LMGT3 program for newly signed customer team Iron Lynx. The Italian team operated …

“It’s no secret that we’ve been very keen for some time to bring the three-pointed star back to Le Mans,” said Christoph Sagemüller, the head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport. “The 2025 season with the FIA WEC entry is the right moment — we are returning to the Sarthe after 26 years! Our successful Mercedes-AMG GT3 and the experienced Iron Lynx team is the right pairing and we have set another milestone in our Customer Racing success story.”

Iron Lynx will field two Mercedes-AMG GT3s in the LMGT3 class. In order to compete in the WEC for the first time with the car, Mercedes-AMG has begun the process of homologating its car for the young category.

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The Mercedes-AMG GT3 must fulfill LMGT3 homologation criteria to ensure it is eligible to compete. These include the use of driveshafts with torque sensors and the associated development work. Wind tunnel tests are also necessary to ensure compliance with the stipulated FIA WEC performance window.

This, in turn, opens up the door for other Mercedes-AMG customers from other championships to compete at Le Mans in the future via invitations earned from racing in the ELMS LMGT3 class or further afield in places like IMSA’s GTD class (pictured, top) or GT World Challenge.

“I would like to thank ACO and the FIA for the focused discussions,” said Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing. “I am also very happy that we were able to convince Iron Lynx of the enormous potential of our Customer Racing program. An intense cooperation over a short period has already delivered an FIA WEC entry.”

After taking delivery of the cars, Iron Lynx will begin the preparation and testing phase ahead of the traditional FIA WEC Prologue, which is scheduled for the Feb. 21-22 at Lusail International Circuit ahead of the Qatar 1812km season-opening race.

CGR Cadillac scores swan song Petit win over champion PPM 963s

In a storybook ending for Chip Ganassi Racing, the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R of Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande and Scott Dixon came back from a miserable early race to win Petit Le Mans. With a dramatic dive to the inside of Nick Tandy in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 in Turn 1 with 15m left in the 10-hour race, Renger van der Zande turned around what had looked like a hopeless day to win the last race before CGR exits the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the time being.

To add a bit of last-second drama, the Cadillac, which had run much of the evening with only one headlight, lost it’s headlights completely with under 5m to go. That would have surely earned a mechanical black flag, but the lights came back on shortly thereafter. They continued to go off intermittently, but were on enough to finish the race.

Porsche Penske Motorsports finished second and third, the No. 6 963 finishing ahead of the No. 7. The third-place finish earned the No. 7 squad of Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr, aided by Matt Campbell in the endurance races, the GTP championship and the Michelin Endurance Cup. Cadillac Racing closed the gap to the No. 6 team, but in the end fell short of breaking up the PPM one-two in the championship.

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The No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA and drivers Steven Thomas, Mikkel Jensen and Hunter McElrea dominated LMP2 after the polesitting No. 2 United Autosports ORECA exited the fight in an early-race crash. TDS denying the Riley Motorsports squad their first victory, as the No. 74 of Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga and Josh Burdon finished second, also preserved the championship lead for Nick Boulle, Tom Dillmann and Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports.

Jordan Pepper in the No. 19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 held off a charge by Daniel Serra in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 to take the GTD PRO victory for himself, Frank Perera and Mirko Bortolotti. The No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Ross Gunn, Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis finished third, which wasn’t enough to wrest the title from Laurin Heinrich and AO Racing.

The No. 77 AO Racing Porche 911 GT3R had a rough race, encountering an electrical issue that affected shifting. Fixing the problem put the car down six laps and Heinrich, with Michael Christensen and Julien Andlauer, finished 11th. Had Gunn been able to take second in the race, the championship would have been his. In the end, the points from Saturday’s qualifying where Heinrich scored pole made the difference.

Conquest Racing was a surprise winner in GTD, Albert Costa Balboa taking advantage of a late caution to get the No. 34 Ferrari 296 into position to attack Loris Spinelli in the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan and earn victory for himself, Manny Franco and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli. Winward Racing took the championship with Russell Ward and Philip Ellis and, along with Indy Dontje, the Michelin Endurance Cup, with a ninth-place finish.

Full reports to follow

RESULTS

Grosjean and Cairoli in for Iron Lynx GTD Lamborghini at Daytona

IndyCar racer and Lamborghini factory driver Romain Grosjean, along with freshly signed factory pilot Matteo Cairoli, will join the previously announced Claudio Schiavoni and Matteo Cressoni in the GTD-class No. 60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán for …

Former F1 racer Grosjean finished fourth on his debut with the team in last year’s race. He will return to the GT cockpit before making the switch to the Lamborghini SC63 later in the year. Cairoli, who will make his Lamborghini debut with the team, has four previous Rolex 24 starts.

“Romain drove with us in No. 63 last year and raced well. Matteo is well known at Iron Lynx as we shared an ELMS season but will race together for the first time with Lamborghini, so we’re really looking forward to seeing him driving at Daytona,” said Iron Lynx team principal and CEO Andrea Piccini. “They will make a very strong addition to the lineup of car No. 60.”

Iron Lynx will field a total of three Huracáns at Daytona. Joining the No. 60 in GTD will be the “Iron Dames,” Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey and Sarah Bovy, with the fourth driver still to be confirmed, in the No. 83. The team’s GTD PRO entry, No. 19, is an all-star squad of Lamborghini drivers — Mirko Bortolotti, Jordan Pepper, Andrea Caldarelli and Franck Perera.

Iron Lynx still fine-tuning lineups for WEC LMDh, GT3 entries

The driver roster for Iron Lynx’s FIA World Endurance Championship effort in 2024 is beginning to take shape, after four names were confirmed this morning in the wake of the series’ provisional full-season entry list being revealed. In Hypercar, …

In Hypercar, Mirko Bortolotti will race alongside Daniil Kvyat in the No. 63 Lamborghini SC63 LMDh prototype (pictured above). The pair have been confirmed for the WEC program after playing a key role in the development of the SC63, which has been track testing since the summer ahead of its global race debut in 2024.

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Both drivers were previously announced as Squadra Corse factory drivers for the LMDh program, though it wasn’t clear which championship they would compete in, as Iron Lynx will also undertake a partial IMSA Endurance Cup campaign next year in GTP with an SC63.

33-year-old Italian Bortolotti joins the WEC’s top class with Iron Lynx following a lengthy spell as a Lamborghini driver that dates back to 2014. Kvyat, meanwhile, was welcomed into the project by Lamborghini earlier this year and competed as part of PREMA’s 2023 FIA WEC LMP2 campaign. The 29-year-old has 110 Formula 1 starts to his name.

Elsewhere, long-time Lamborghini driver, Andrea Caldarelli has also been confirmed for the 2024 season, though he will concentrate on the brand’s partial 2024 IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup campaign in GTP.

In addition to confirming the roles of three of its prototype drivers, Iron Lynx has also confirmed that the SC63 will take part in the IMSA test at Daytona next month in what will be the car’s first official appearance in North America.

However, Iron Lynx will sit out the 2024 Rolex 24 At Daytona as the SC63’s development and homologation processes reach their final stages. The target for the car’s race debut is the opening round of the ]WEC season in Qatar on March 2.

“Today’s announcement is particularly significant,” said Iron Lynx team principal and CEO Andrea Piccini. “Having the first names allocated to our roster brings us closer to our 2024 debut, and marks a new phase in the development of this project.

“We already worked with Mirko, Daniil and Andrea this year, and we were impressed by their skills, experience, and professionalism. I cannot wait to reveal our full line-ups and see where the future will bring us.”

Iron Lynx also received confirmation this morning that it will represent Lamborghini in the WEC’s new LMGT3 class, with a pair of Huracan GT3 EVO 2s.

Two drivers have been confirmed thus far, with Claudio Schiavoni set to race the No. 60 Iron Lynx-entered Huracan and Danish racer Michelle Gatting signed to form part of the “Iron Dames” trio that will race with No. 85. Gatting was part of the winning Iron Dames lineup in the 8 Hours of Bahrain earlier this month in GTE Am, which was the first in an FIA world championship for an all-female crewed car.