Lamborghini at Watkins Glen: How they matched their best GTP result

Written by Ghazlan Atqiya Firmansyah, Edited by Aaron Carroll

The SC63 leading several GTP cars during the Six Hours of The Glen | Credit: Lamborghini Media Center

Lamborghini’s performance at last weekend’s Six Hours of The Glen did not go unnoticed. The Italian manufacturer has generally been struggling this year in the previous Michelin Endurance Cup rounds with back-to-back retirements in Daytona and Sebring to start the campaign.

Pre-race hopes

Riley Technologies run the SC63 GTP program under the Automobili Lamborghini Squadra Corse banner as a factory-supported team. With a solo SC63, the team only contested the Michelin Endurance Cup for this year’s IMSA SportsCar Championship season.

The SC63 was plagued with reliability issues that forced it to retire in the opening Daytona and Sebring rounds and went absent for the next rounds as the team did not contest the non-endurance rounds.

Last year in Watkins Glen, Lamborghini was performing well in the race and ran inside the top five following strong qualifying. Sadly, the car retired due to a mechanical issue.

The team returned to Watkins Glen with a two-driver lineup similar to its peers, featuring Romain Grosjean and Daniil Kvyat. Mirko Bortolotti was absent, racing at the Nürburgring 24h. The car completed 65 laps during the two free practice sessions without any issues.

However, Grosjean could only manage 11th during qualifying with a time of 1:33.479. The car was not able to perform to its optimum performance with high track temperatures.

Gaining ground on a wet track

The race began on a dry track, but rain soon fell shortly at the beginning while the GTP grid was still on the slick tyres. Nobody saw it coming when Grosjean made moves on the slippery track and was already up two places by the end of the first lap.

The rain became heavier by the minute, and some cars began to fall victim to it. Grosjean continued his blazing start and settled nicely in fifth. The worsening conditions and the incidents were deemed bad enough for the officials to declare several full-course yellows.

Grosjean piloting the SC63 and found himself at the lead at some point | Credit: Lamborghini Media Center

The No.63 continued its charge into the podium places after the team gambled to stay out on slicks during the first of the two rain showers. The Frenchman pitted like the rest of the grid to the wet compound when it was deemed too difficult to run with slicks.

The 39-year-old surged into the lead of the race thanks to a well-timed pit stop and subsequent full-course yellow. Grosjean held the strong pace and gained a two-second gap to the Acura behind. Unfortunately, this did not last long as the field was neutralised near the halfway mark.

The second half

Kvyat took over the SC63 for the start of the second half of the race, but a slow pit stop sent the Lamborghini down to ninth before the restart. However, the 31-year-old was determined to recover the lost places.

Grosjean eventually returned to the wheel while saving his energy and put the car in fourth. However, the team was denied a top-five finish as there was not enough in the tank to complete the race. Grosjean pitted and eventually crossed the line in seventh, matching their best GTP result.

Post-race reflections

“It’s been a fantastic day for the SC63”, Grosjean said. “We were leading the race for a long time today, and the performance of the car on a damp track on slick tyres was really strong.”

While the team did not finish in the top five, Grosjean felt the team had executed everything well: “It was definitely a productive weekend for the whole team, we had a good strategy and were only a couple of laps short of fuel at the end, sadly.”

“But, we managed to execute everything really well, and had no issues with the car all race, so overall it was a great race and I hope to enjoy more races like that.”

Kvyat said this result was very important to show Lamborghini is still competitive: “It’s great to finally finish a race this year, it was very important for us, and to get P7 shows that we were competitive, and we were in the game throughout the race.”

“Overall, it was a fun race, different conditions but maybe a little less fun when it was at its hottest during the day, but we still had to hold it all together, keep it on track and keep pushing.”

“There are a lot of positives to take from this race, and I hope that we will be able to bring some things to the car that will help us make a step forward with the pace of the car”, Kvyat concluded.