IRON LYNX SQUAD LEAVES LAMBORGHINI SUPER TROFEO EUROPE SEASON-OPENER WITH SILVERWARE HAUL
The Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe season got underway at Circuit Paul Ricard as part of the GT World Challenge weekend, and the drivers of the six Iron Lynx cars were raring to go for Round 1.
With cars across all four of the series’ categories, there was Iron Lynx action everywhere you looked during the two qualifying sessions on Saturday morning. In the Pro class the #10 car was taken to fourth by Rodrigo Testa in Q1 and second by Ugo De Wilde in Q2. Meanwhile the Pro-Am category saw the #89 car of Yelmer Buurman and #78 of Emanuele Zonzini head to the top of the timesheets with first and second respectively in the first qualifying session. Their team mates followed that up with fifth for Nigel Schoonderwoerd (#89) and P10 for Emanuel Colombini (#78).
Then came the Am class, in which Claude-Yves Gosselin took sixth in class at the wheel of the #4 machine during Qualifying 1 followed by his team mate Marc Rostan who went ninth. In LC Cup, father-son duo Donovan and Luciano Privitelio took first and fourth in Q1 and Q2 respectively while Kumar Prabakaran recorded the ninth-fastest time.
Race 1 would see the #89 car leading the field closely followed by #78 for much of the race’s opening stages. Eventually the #78 car would concede second position to the Target Racing car and continue to slip down the order. By the flag the Schoonderwoerd/Buurman combination had fallen to third, but claimed a well-earned podium in the Pro-Am class while the Privitelios in LC Cup stood on the top step.
For the second and final race of the weekend, the #10 car of Testa and De Wilde was able to show its true pace in race conditions. The latter got the race underway and pressurized the leading VSR car before the Safety Car was deployed. Portuguese youngster Testa got behind the wheel and resumed the lead battle, eventually taking P2 in Pro after a thrilling three-car battle for the win. Zonzini took over for the second stint in the #78 and masterfully carved through the cars ahead to take the Pro Am win on the road, but a post-race penalty relegated him to third in class. Gosselin just missed out on an Am podium with fourth while the Privitelio pairing picked up another LC Cup win to make it two from two at Paul Ricard.
Race 1 Results:
Ugo De Wilde / Rodrigo Testa #10 – P5 (Pro)
Yelmer Buurman / Nigel Schoonderwoerd #89 – P3 (Pro-Am)
Emanuele Zonzini / Emanuel Colombini #78 – P5 (Pro-Am)
Claude Gosselin / Marc Rostan #4 – P4 (Am)
Donovan Privitelio / Luciano Privitelio #8 – P1 (LC Cup)
Kumar Prabakaran #38 – P8 (LC Cup)
Race 2 Results:
Ugo De Wilde / Rodrigo Testa #10 – P2 (Pro)
Yelmer Buurman / Nigel Schoonderwoerd #89 – P7 (Pro-Am)
Emanuele Zonzini / Emanuel Colombini #78 – P3 (Pro-Am)
Claude Gosselin / Marc Rostan #4 – P4 (Am)
Donovan Privitelio / Luciano Privitelio #8 – P1 (LC Cup)
Kumar Prabakaran #38 – P9 (LC Cup)
“We’ve had a fantastic opening weekend of Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe at Paul Ricard. One pole position, two class victories and three further podiums gives us a great starting point for the season ahead. Now we’ll focus on the preparation for Spa at the end of the month.”
Iron Lynx Team Principal and CEO, Andrea Piccini