IRON LYNX SHOWS PACE, KEEPS MOVING FORWARD AT IMOLA

While the end result was not what the team had hoped for at Imola, Iron Lynx is exiting the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship with positive feedback and confidence in the potential available.

Starting from practice, the #61 and #79 cars showed strong pace and consistency, comfortably sitting around the top-5. In qualifying, Martin Berry confirmed the same potential and put the team into Hyperpole, where Rui Andrade posted a sixth place. Driving the #79 Mercedes-AMG LMGT3, Johannes Zelger made a very positive debut on the world’s highest stage in endurance racing, ending up close in terms of lap times to the top-10 and setting up for further improvement.

On Race Day, both the Singapore-resident and the Italian had great starts, with Berry keeping the pace in the pack and Zelger making impressive gains. Unfortunately, the middle stages came with some issues. A pit speeding infringement led to a 20-second stop and go penalty for Matteo Cressoni and the #79. At the same time, a technical issue started to develop on the #61 with Rui Andrade at the wheel, and the pace deteriorated further when Mercedes-AMG Performance driver Maxime Martin got in the car. It was eventually decided to retire the car with 166 laps on the board.

The #79 made up spots late in the race with Cressoni and Lin Hodenius. The Mercedes-AMG Junior Driver delivered an impressive final stint on new tyres, ending up in P12.

While more work and analysis will be undertaken to maximize the pace, especially over longer stints, the
team will be back for the second round of the European Le Mans Series in Paul Ricard, which will once again go back-to-back with FIA WEC round 2 at Spa-Francorchamps.

“We had good expectations for our home round, and although the results are not the ones we were hoping for, we saw further improvements and a good pace, in line with the progress we have been making since last year. We came to Imola with new and valuable addition in the engineering compartment and that definitely paid dividends, while the crew did an amazing job on the mechanical and pit-stop aspect. We will continue to work to maximize our package in all conditions.

“On the drivers’ side, it was a great showing across the board. I was especially impressed by how Johannes performed and kept improving at his very first race, and by how Lin really stepped up in his role with the support of Mercedes-AMG. I think we have outstanding lineups and we hope for them to achieve some solid results in Spa-Francorchamps.”

Andrea Piccini – Team Principal & CEO

“The race went quite well, but we got a penalty for speeding in the pit lane. It happens, and we have to deal with it. We finished in P12, which is not too bad coming from P17 in qualifying. Johannes did a great job in his stint, and we showed great potential. We just need to push forward.”

Lin Hodenius – Driver, Car 79

“A tricky weekend for us in the end. We had a great start, with P6 in qualifying, but then the race didn’t really go our way as we retired with a technical issue. We showed some really good potential, and I’m sure we will be back stronger in Spa-Francorchamps.”

Maxime Martin – Driver, Car 61