IRON LYNX SCORES POINTS FINISH, KEEPS IMPROVING AT FUJI

The 6 Hours of Fuji, race number 100 in FIA World Endurance Championship history, handed Iron Lynx a points finish as the team continued to show positive momentum and got more and more involved in the fight for the leading positions. 

Driving the #61 Mercedes-AMG LMGT3, Martin Berry, Lin Hodenius, and Maxime Martin posted a ninth place after showing top-5 potential in most parts of the race. Berry tried to keep it clean in the hectic opening stages, but a pit speed violation forced him to fight back, which he did with an impressive stint. Hodenius later made one of his trademark hard-fought recoveries, gaining multiple spots. As the final safety-car split the strategy, the #61 car was jumped by some of its competitors that only had to do a quick splash. It still ended up in P8, the first top-10 of the year, also relying on Mercedes-AMG Performance Driver Maxime Martin’s efforts to catch up.

The #60 crew was put on the back foot by some early penalties, but Andrew Gilbert showed raw speed right off the bat. Lorcan Hanafin then put up a monstrous recovery stint. The 22-year-old Briton set the fastest lap of the race and almost unlapped himself in an exciting comeback. Sporting a special helmet design inspired by the Eva-01 character in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, Spaniard Fran Rueda continued the work, ending up in P16.

With evident progress on display, the team is now looking forward to the two final races of the 2025 endurance programme, the ELMS finale in Portimão in mid-October, and the last round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Bahrain International Circuit. 

It was another solid race, and we definitely had the potential to achieve a podium. The pace is really competitive with both cars, and the operation keeps running smoothly. In a championship of this caliber, improvement comes little by little, and every choice makes a difference. Deciding not to stop with the last Safety Car dropped us back on a split strategy that didn’t pay out. Nevertheless, we take a lot of positives away with the best result of the year for car #61 and a great performance in terms of speed from all six drivers. We are happy with the overall team performance, and we look forward to continuing the work and momentum in Portimão and Bahrain.

Andrea Piccini – Team Principal & CEO

Tough race here in Fuji. The speed was in the car; we just didn’t maximize on everything. The team did a great job all week, and I’m really happy about that. We need to build on this for Bahrain, and end the season on a high.

Lorcan Hanafin – Driver, car #60

I think it went well overall, shame we got an early penalty, that’s what really dropped us back in the end. We also got a bit unlucky with some safety car and FCY situations. The pace was there, which was pretty positive. We’re looking forward to Bahrain making a good comeback.

Lin Hodenius – Driver, car #61

Not an amazing race result. We started in P12 and finished in P8. It could have been better, but it was an intense race with a lot of safety cars, restarts, and strategy. We got some points for the team, which is good, but we need to keep going and try to do better in Bahrain.

Maxime Martin – Driver, car #61