The iconic Sebring International Raceway hosted the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar 2024 for the 72nd edition of the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac. Matteo Cairoli took part in the race at the wheel of the new Lamborghini SC63 LMDh #63 together with the team Iron Lynx, completing his first race kilometers with a prototype, as it’s his main program for the 2024 season. With Cairoli, there were Romain Grosjean and Andrea Caldarelli, the two drivers that will share the car with Matteo for the whole season.
Cairoli was the one who took on the challenge of the delicate qualification phase, a session of 15 minutes that decided the race grid. However, Jaminet’s spin at the wheel of the Porsche #6 caused a pretty long red flag, which forced everyone to stay still in the pit lane while the clock still went on. The green flag was waved with only three minutes to go, and Matteo Cairoli managed to snatch eighth place with a lap time of 1:53.574, as he was unable to express the car’s full potential due to the limited time available.
Matteo started the race, as Iron Lynx trusted him for such an important stage, and drove for the first part of it. The driver from Como gained more and more confidence with the SC63 and proved to be very careful when overlapping slower cars, then handed the wheel to his teammates. He jumped back in the cockpit at the sixth hour of the race, continuing Caldarelli and Grosjean’s work.
They managed to finish the race seventh despite an unfortunate issue with the door, which forced the car to make a long stop in the pit lane. However, there’s a lot of optimism for the rest of the IMSA season: Sebring seemed to be the hardest track for this car, as its asphalt is pretty bumpy and uneven, and crossing the finish line represents an incredible first goal reached.
