Team Secures One-Two Points Finish in GT World Challenge America

K-PAX Racing may have clinched a Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS Championship – three titles across the board for two of its core drivers, the team and for Lamborghini in its first year of partnership – but it did not divert the newly crowned champs from bringing an equally as motivated program to “Racing Capital of the World.” The team entered its traditional two-car Huracán GT3 EVOs in the Indianapolis 8 Hour, with extended three-driver line-ups that welcomed two Lamborghini Factory Drivers to a total K-PAX Racing-Lamborghini effort.

K-PAX Racing was a part of the inaugural Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli (IGTC) stop at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, earning a top-10 and having led early in an endurance race off the traditional 90-minute format the team competes in with the sister GT World Challenge America series. While K-PAX Racing was able to help last year’s drivers stay in the title hunt in IGTC, this season became an opportunity for the team to not only secure a one-two finish in the GT World Challenge America standings, but also challenge and complement a proven team in endurance racing with a new manufacturer for eight hours of action. The team was a part of a record-setting 41-car field to take center-stage, and in eight hours, earned a third-place finish and a top-10. Indy is the 24^th track stateside where the team has recorded a podium performance.

“What a way to close-out this year,” K-PAX Racing Program Manager Darren Law said. “We not only won the Drivers’, Team and Manufacturers’ Championship in GT World Challenge America, but we also came into this race thinking we would do well with the right line-up and right crew. To persevere through punctures, pit-stops and damage from other cars to third against some of the best GT3 drivers and teams in the world is something to be really proud of. The team, drivers and crew did an awesome job. It was a great way to end our season.”

The performance specifically by the No. 6 of Corey Lewis and Giovanni Venturini secured K-PAX Racing a one-two finish in the GT World Challenge America Drivers’ Championship (234 points). The finish by this season’s driver core is a first for the team, as it has not previously finished both of its cars at the top of the standings in its history.

“To deliver [a one-two finish in the Drivers’ Championship] to K-PAX Racing, especially coming in with a new manufacturer – putting both in the top-spot of the Championship – it was phenomenal. Again, I’m super proud of the effort everyone put into this, and we’re looking forward to 2021.”

The 2.439-mile, 14-turn “roval” offered some different features from last season’s layout, and Mother Nature posed a greater challenge – belts of scattered rain created a wet track surface, while race conditions were dry – hindering the team from compiling valuable data from track-time to use in the eight-hour. However, K-PAX Racing advanced to the Pole Shootout as two of the quickest 15 cars in the field on Saturday. The No. 3, piloted by Jordan Pepper, Andrea Caldarelli and Mirko Bortolotti recorded a combined qualifying time of 1:34.641, which was third-fastest in the overall field. The No. 6, shared by Lewis, Venturini and Marco Mapelli, averaged 10^th best with a 1:35.664. Bortolotti and Mapelli entered the Pole Shootout in their respective cars, ultimately positioning their cars 11^th (1:34.376) and 14^th (1:34.903) on the grid.

Pepper and Lewis started the race mid-pack – a mixed field of 39 cars. While an endurance format would promote conservative racing in the early stages, there were fierce battles across the field in the opening sequence. The No. 3 was able to advance into the top-10, 8^th overall, before a right-front puncture forced an early pit. The No. 6, which eventually saw the top-10 as well in 10^th, suffered a punctured left-rear. Both the team’s Huracán GT3 EVOs were initially off-sequence with pit windows, but it would wholly create upward movement through the field. Pepper made the swap for Caldarelli in its second stop, and he would advance to seventh overall an hour and a half into regulation. A safety car about 20 minutes later regrouped the field, which opened up the door for Caldarelli to successfully put the No. 3 in class podium position, fourth overall.

Bortolotti continued the K-PAX Racing surge to the halfway mark, picking up the one overall spot for an outright podium, thereon creating more than a 15-second cushion from fourth. Simultaneously, he continued to push the pace to chip away at nearly a 30-second gap to second. A spin from second position with roughly 15 minutes to the halfway point helped Bortolotti cut that deficit in half. The No. 3 pit six minutes shy of the midway mark for a regular pit-stop, putting Pepper back in the seat – undercutting the gap to about 14 seconds. The second-place car, on a different strategy, pit which made way for the No. 3. Meanwhile, the No. 6 made the switch from Venturini to Mapelli and continued its campaign hovering inside the top-10.

Pepper needed to bridge about a 12-second gap for the lead. A stop-and-hold, 30 second penalty however covered the gap, giving K-PAX Racing its first lead of the race. A safety car regrouped the field, and on the restart, Pepper pulled forward to a one-second gap until a safety car encouraged most of the field to pit that lap – the No. 3 and the second-place car pitting one lap later. Pepper refiles into the field in sixth, where he was tasked to maneuver around back-markers to regain track position. The third and fourth place competitors were halted momentarily in their run through traffic, giving way for now fifth-place Pepper to close the gap. Pepper would keep a steady pace before passing the car off to his championship-winning counterpart, Caldarelli, with about two hours remaining in regulation.

Caldarelli saw the No. 3 up seven positions from its starting spot in the closing hours of the race – fourth in class and in the overall, with a safety car helping create an opportunity to recover ground. The No. 3 settled into fifth nearing the seven-hour mark, less than five seconds from fourth and 13 from the leader. He recovered fourth, and damage to the leading car helped put K-PAX Racing back on the podium and into the pits for Bortolotti. The No. 3 restarted in sixth, and an incident with two competitors in that sequence allowed Bortolotti to advance into the top-five (fourth in class), and Mapelli to climb into seventh (sixth in class). Mapelli opted to pit for tires – reentering the field in ninth – and in that time, Bortolotti would be a beneficiary of a drive-through penalty assessed to the leader.

An additional drive-through penalty was given to a competitor, which was enough for Bortolotti to pick up another position – fourth with less than 20 minutes remaining. He passed an out-of-class competitor for an overall podium spot. K-PAX Racing matched its best finish in an Intercontinental GT Challenge sanctioned American eight-our event, placing third. The No. 6 also recorded a top-10 overall, however placed third – first in class – among GT World Challenge America contenders.

DRIVER QUOTES

Andrea Caldarelli – No. 3 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO (Race 1 – 3^rd) – “It was a good result for the team – a podium we were fighting all race to achieve. After the first puncture in the beginning, we thought it was going to be quite hard. Then we recovered little by little. At the end, a nice third place finish is good for the team being the first race with K-PAX Racing and Lamborghini in Intercontinental GT Challenge. It’s a start to hopefully a long collaboration together into next year. I think the team did a very good job all week. It was a hard race to prepare for against the European teams. We showed that we were always there to the end, fighting, and that was the most important thing. We were definitely very consistent, but unfortunately contact with a GT4 at the beginning of my stint put a fender out, making the car really difficult to drive during the entire stint. I was scared we were going to get a puncture, but luckily I was able to make it.”

Jordan Pepper – No. 3 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO (Race 1 – 3^rd) – “We knew we had to go to war with these guys today – Audi and Ferrari were in a different league a bit. I’m proud of the team for giving us a great car to fight with. It sucks to lose a win by something out of our control. I’m super proud and tomorrow when I wake up and see that we were third, I think I’ll be really happy. It was a good way to end the season, though I would have oved to win this one – especially after last season. We gave it a fair fight, and I did everything I could in the car.”

Mirko Bortolotti – No. 3 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO (Race 1 – 3^rd) – “I just tried to get the maximum out of the car like I usual do, and that’s how I approach races like these. I’m really happy with what we achieved today – really happy with our performance and my performance. We didn’t have any major mistakes, so the whole team can be happy with this third place. If we looked into it at the end of the day, the crucial part was the pit-stop with the red flag – things could have gone completely different. But it was not in our position and on our side, we did everything we could.”

Giovanni Venturini – No. 6 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO (Race 1 – 6^th) – “It was a really nice season for the team at the end. We clinched first and second place in the Drivers’ Championship, and K-PAX Racing helped Lamborghini to a Manufacturers’ Championship. I have to say ‘Thank you’ to everyone for their effort and to Squadra Corse. I hope to be with the team next year to achieve more great results.”

Corey Lewis – No. 6 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO (Race 1 – 6^th) – “[Finishing second in the GT World Challenge America Championship] is exactly what we set out to do – to not only finish one-two for the drivers, but also take care of the team and manufacturer. We were able to check off all those boxes this year, so it’s a homerun on many levels. It was great to wrap that up, and it was a heck of a weekend. We had a little bit of a setback early-on with the tire puncture and then going a lap down, which was tough to recover from. I don’t know the ruling behind the pit closure, but I think we would have been back on the lead lap – a potential for a top-five or even a podium. The car was definitely strong, and Gio [Venturini] and Marco [Mapelli] did an awesome job over the course of the weekend and especially in the race. It was a pleasure driving with them, and it was a pleasure being a part of the team this year. Maybe we can continue on for the future.”

Marco Mapelli – No. 6 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO (Race 1 – 6^th) – “It was definitely a tough weekend, but I’m happy the team tried everything to get the car to work better throughout the week. We just couldn’t find it, so we tried to push and do our best in the race – getting the maximum from the car without any mistakes. Strategy-wise, we were a bit unlucky, so we lost some positions in the end but with our pace, we couldn’t aim for the race win. At least we finished, and the guys did a great job.”

 About K-PAX Racing
Based in Sonoma, Calif., K-PAX Racing has celebrated a total 170 podiums, 69 wins, five Driver Championships and three Manufacturer Championships, solidifying the team as a continuous championship contender. In the GT Class, K-PAX Racing has fielded Porsche 911 GT3s during the 2007 – 2008 seasons, Volvo S60s during the 2009 – 2013 seasons, McLaren 12C GT3s in 2014 and McLaren 650S GT3s from 2015 – 2017. The team made a switch to Bentley for 2018, fielding the first-generation Continental GT3 in its first season and the second-generation model in 2019 and 2020. K-PAX Racing debuted the 2021 season in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO.

About Lamborghini Squadra Corse

Squadra Corse is the motorsport department of Automobili Lamborghini. Born in 2013 within the Research & Development department, Squadra Corse provides an integrated approach to driving experiences of the brand; from driving course programs with road vehicles to motorsport competitions, through the Lamborghini Super Trofeo or championships of the GT class.

Esperienza is the first step for those who are interested in the world of Lamborghini: Its aim is to share the thrill and emotions of the super sports cars from Sant’Agata Bolognese with fans and potential customers alike, by advanced driving course programs. Esperienza Dinamica is divided into five programs in order to face every type of surface: Corsa, Neve, Sabbia, Strada, Terra. Esperienza Accademia is the program dedicated to advanced drivers, offering driving course programs not only on the racetrack but also on ice in order to improve the driving skills of the pilots.

The Lamborghini Super Trofeo is an international motor racing series with drivers competing in identical Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVOs, the racing version of the production model, that features the same 5.2 l naturally aspirated V10 engine. Inaugurated in 2009, Super Trofeo hosts regional championships in Europe, Asia and North America and is divided in four categories: Pro, Pro-Am, Am and Lamborghini Cup bringing together passionate gentleman drivers and young professional pilots. At the end of each season, the teams and drivers of all regions compete against each other in the World Finals, the highlight of the season.

The most challenging tests are those which see Lamborghini’s Customer Racing Teams competing in the principal international GT championships driving the Huracán GT3. The GT3 differs from the Huracán Super Trofeo EVO through its more sophisticated aerodynamics, kinematic suspension control and other technical specifications respecting official FIA regulations. In 2017 the Huracán GT3 won the Blancpain GT Series; in 2018 and 2019 the Huracán GT3 completed a double victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring in GTD Class. Lamborghini is the only company in the world to win both of the prestigious races, that are also known as 36 Hours of Florida, in two consecutive years. Another premiere in 2019: The GT3 won the Triple Crown of the Blancpain GT Series with the titles in the categories Overall, Endurance and Sprint. In 2020 Lamborghini celebrated third victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona with sensational one-two finish.

Both the Huracán Super Trofeo and the Huracán GT3 are constructed and built at the plant in Sant’Agata Bolognese on the same production line as the road vehicles. Specialized technicians of the Lamborghini Squadra Corse are present at every station along the line.

Moreover, Lamborghini Squadra Corse is trying to develop new talents in motor sports, for example through the Young Drivers Program (open for drivers under 26 that will compete in the Super Trofeo championship) and the GT3 Junior Program (for future GT drivers). Both the programs aim to offer young drivers the possibility to improve their driving skills helping them to take a career as professional pilots.

In 2018 Squadra Corse inaugurated its first One-Off, the SC18 Alston, followed by open-top SC20 in 2020. In the same year Squadra Corse unveiled Essenza SCV12 the track-only hypercar in a limited edition of 40 units, fitted with the most powerful V12 naturally aspirated engine ever developed by Lamborghini: over 830 hp.