POINTS FINISH FOR IRON LYNX IN ELMS ARAGON NIGHT RACE

Following the summer break, the championship-leading Iron Lynx team returned to the racetrack for the third round of the European Le Mans Series. Around a sweltering Motorland Aragon circuit, the #60 Porsche 911 RSR – 19 of Claudio Schiavoni, Matteo Cressoni and Matteo Cairoli was ready for the third round of the season as the halfway point approached.

The team hit the ground running in Free Practice ahead of the weekend, ending up top of the times in both sessions. Qualifying took place on Saturday morning, in slightly cooler temperatures compared to earlier in the weekend, ahead of the race into the night that evening.

The 15-minute session featured the Bronze-graded driver setting the grid position for the race, meaning Claudio was behind the wheel with 25 kilograms of success ballast onboard due to the results of the previous races. His first timed effort was scuppered by a red flag before he had completed his lap.

When the session resumed, Claudio was able to put in three laps that significantly improved each time to line up 10th in class on the grid with a best time of 1 minute 59.303 seconds, and firmly in the mix ahead of the four-hour endurance race.

Claudio took the start and was in a battle with the #51 AF Corse in the early stages. As the first stint progressed, he gained positions, kept out of trouble and his pace became among the strongest in class. He took his first stop just before the end of the opening hour, re-joining in eighth, which was timely because of the deployment of the Safety Car right on the hour mark.

Restarting from eighth after a 13-minute Safety Car section, Claudio climbed up to seventh early on as the #51 had to pit, but then dropped a couple of positions to ninth, but stayed firmly in the mix for the remainder of his second stint. He pitted for a second time just after the 1h45m mark, safely handing the car over to Matteo Cressoni.

Matteo took the car through the sunset and into dusk, producing strong, consistent times throughout, aside from a short Full Course Yellow segment. He had a good battle with the #72 TF Sport entry, working his way through into seventh in class. With just over an hour on the clock, he handed over to Matteo Cairoli and in the mix for a points finish.

The pace from Matteo was very strong as the temperatures fell and ran much of his stint in seventh position and gradually closing on the #55 Spirit of Race entry. Matteo ran out of time to make a move but was close to making up another few positions. He crossed the line in seventh to bring home a valuable points finish.

It feels good to be back after the summer break and this weekend was an interesting event in the heat of Aragon. Although we had the risk of rain throughout, we had a fully dry race.

Together, the team produced a positive performance with Claudio and both Matteos around this tricky circuit. Claudio put in a good drive in qualifying, and then a good performance in the first part of the race to keep the #60 in with a chance of a lot of points. Cressoni then delivered consistently quick lap times, and Cairoli was able to bring the car home safely in a good points position, which keeps us in contention for a great championship result as we enter the second half of the season.

Iron Lynx Team Principal and CEO, Andrea Piccini