The 92nd edition of the 24h of Le Mans went underway on the La Sarthe circuit, with the World Endurance Championship busy in its most iconic race of the season. Matteo Cairoli was one of the protagonists together with Romain Grosjean and Andrea Caldarelli, at the wheel of the Lamborghini SC63 #19 of Iron Lynx.
The team trusted Caldarelli for the qualifying session, but he was unable to obtain a Hyperpole spot. His lap time was 3:27.655, and it put the #19 Lamborghini on the 21st spot of the grid. The first few instances of the race went pretty well for Iron Lynx, who managed to avoid mistakes and crashes. The first challenge arrived after two hours, when rain started coming but not heavily; almost everyone entered the pits to wear wet tires, while Lamborghini stayed on track with slick ones, obtaining fourth place but quickly losing it as the opponents arrived fast.
Matteo Cairoli took the wheel of the SC63 after five hours after Grosjean’s stint. Track conditions were not easy, and, as he had cold tires, he made a little mistake that cost him the start from the 17th position. Cairoli then performed well, with a consistent and linear stint, despite all the difficulties of the rain and slower cars. The Italian driver, who was also penalized with a drive-through for not respecting the maximum speed in a slow zone, still managed to place 15th before handing back the car to Caldarelli.
Cairoli’s second stint saw the safety car as the protagonist, as rain kept pouring in the night. Matteo later came back in the car with three hours to go, battling for the points zone in 13th place. In this stage, Cairoli put pedal to the metal to complete the fastest lap of the team in 3:30.919, giving a great boost to his team and himself. Caldarelli finished the race 13th and only two laps behind the race leader without having crashes or reliability issues.
The next race for Matteo Cairoli is scheduled for the upcoming week, as the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen will go underway on Sunday, June 23rd, at the wheel of the Lamborghini SC63.
