Matteo Cairoli wore the Lamborghini Squadra Corse colors for the very first time at the Daytona International Speedway, racing in the GTD Pro class at the wheel of the Huracán Evo2 GT3 #60 of Iron Lynx. Matteo Cressoni, Romain Grosjean, and Claudio Schiavoni were his teammates at the 62nd edition of the 24 Hours at Daytona. Matteo had already raced with the two Italians as they battled for the championship in the European Le Mans Series last year and had the opportunity to get to know Romain, the former Formula 1 driver, as he will be his teammate for the upcoming IMSA season at the wheel of the Italian prototype.
Some technical issues occurred in the two preparatory weeks of the race, as the car caught fire during the Roar to Daytona and forced the team to switch some car components. Luckily, the drivers managed to find their pace and qualified eighth in their class for the big race.
The race went underway at 1:40 PM on Saturday, January 27th, and Matteo Cressoni was the first to take the wheel of the car n.60, handed some time later to Romain Grosjean and to Claudio Schiavoni before the sun started to come down. After six hours, it was Matteo Cairoli’s turn to go on track, focused on pushing to gain as many positions as possible with the night approaching. Unluckily, after he put some of the fastest laps on the clock, Cairoli was forced to enter the box due to some issues. He did manage to get back on track, but after a few laps, the car started to manifest even more problems with the gearbox, forcing the team to retire.
The 24 Hours at Daytona were harsh to Cairoli, who now has his eyes set on the upcoming 12 Hours of Sebring, IMSA SportsCar Championsip’s second round, where Matteo will race with the new Lamborghini SC63 LMDh. Despite the result, he still proved how fast he can adapt to cars he has never driven, like the Huracan Evo2 GT3.
