IRON LYNX CHARGES THROUGH THE FIELD IN GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE ENDURANCE CUP FINALE

The Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia played host to the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup season finale and the Iron Lynx #63 trio of Loris Spinelli, Andrea Caldarelli, Matteo Cairoli were among the 47-strong grid to take on its fast, flowing and unforgiving layout. 

With regular GTWCE Iron Lynx driver and newly crowned DTM champion Mirko Bortolotti attending a prize-giving ceremony to honour his title, Spinelli completed the line-up in the final race of the year. 

As the six-hour contest got underway, it was stand-in Spinelli at the wheel, resisting pressure from the #188 McLaren in the opening exchanges to hold position.

During the latter half of the first stint, the third-place car suffered a puncture elevating Spinelli up to third.

Before the end of the first hour, Spinelli handed the reins to Caldarelli, but those who were yet to pit benefited from a Full Course Yellow and Caldarelli found himself ninth after the first round of stops. 

Another FCY soon followed, and the #63 was forced to make another stop having suffered two punctures, dropping down the order to 23rd.  

By the time of the next stop, Caldarelli had made steady progress and when Cairoli took the wheel, they had risen to 20th overall. 

Cairoli progressed further still to 19th towards the end of the third hour. Spinelli was back in the seat with two and a half hours remaining and rejoined in 15th, but wasted no time moving into 14th. 

With 90 minutes on the clock, Spinelli pitted, and Cairoli fed back into the race in 11th. The offset strategy began to take effect in the closing stages, and the #63 climbed to sixth as those ahead pitted. 

Cairoli was called in one final time during a late FCY, handing over to Caldarelli for a dash to the chequered flag. When the FCY became a Safety Car, Caldarelli found himself in eighth and in the final 20 minutes of running, gained another position at the #7 Aston Martin’s expense to cross the line seventh and complete an excellent comeback drive.  

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup results:

#63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx: P7 (PRO)