Ashley Freiberg says she’s aiming to build upon her impressive run to a pair of third-place finishes in her Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America debut at the series’ next round at Watkins Glen, and possibly beyond.
A veteran of sports car and single-seater racing despite her young age, the 25-year-old got a late call to drive for DAC Motorsports in the season opener at Circuit of The Americas earlier this month.
Freiberg said the quick turnaround made her strong result all the more gratifying, where she became the first woman to score a podium finish in the Pro class in the highly competitive single-make series.
“It all came together super last minute,” Freiberg told Sportscar365. “Literally the day before I was supposed to fly down, DAC contacted me to tell me I was going to race with them.
“We didn’t even know if I’d be driving alone or what car I’d be in. I guess that made it even sweeter to get the results that we got.
“I’m pretty new to the car too, and I’m pretty happy with finishing third in both races. Definitely after the first race, I learned a lot just about the car and how the tires last.
“I had some good discussions with my team and my teammates, and I had a plan going into my second race.
“I was running super well and got caught up in a little bit of a mess and got hit and spun, but I drove my way back up to third.
“All in all, I was pretty happy with the weekend and I know I walked about with a lot of knowledge that I’m going to carry into my next event.”
Freiberg said learning how hard to push the Lamborghini Huracán LP 620-2 Super Trofeo and the tires was the first step of the process, but found both the car and the series to be to her liking.
“I love it,” she said. “I love the car, and I love the series. The car is a lot faster than I expected. I was pretty impressed, especially because it’s a development series.
“It was kind of amazing to experience how fast the car is. I like that it’s hard to drive. Because it has so much horsepower, all on the rear tires, you definitely need to learn how to manage that.
“You can literally roast the tires off of it in one lap if you’re really leaning on it. The car in general moves around a lot, so it’s definitely a good learning car.
“And the series, you’re in front of all of the major race teams in [the] WeatherTech [Championship], and that gives you exposure.
“The competition is really awesome too. We have a lot of really fast guys in Pro, so it’s really exciting for me to race against a lot of really fast guys.”
While she acknowledged that she was open to any racing opportunities that presented themselves, Freiberg said the plan right now was to head to Watkins Glen with DAC and hope to keep the momentum rolling.
“Honestly, we’re going race by race,” she said. “I’m super grateful for DAC and [team owner] Emmanuel [Anassis] for giving me the opportunity that they are because right now we don’t really have the sponsorship to do the full year.
“That’s why COTA came together super last minute, because we were trying to find and outside sponsor.
“Obviously that part of the business is just tough in general, but because COTA went so well we’re trying to create some buzz and keep the momentum going.”