Jerez Weekend Notebook

***Lamborghini’s traditional end-of-season World Finals event is held at Jerez for the second time. It was previously held here in 2019.

***In total, eight different circuits have hosted the World Finals since the event debuted in 2013. In addition to Jerez, Vallelunga, Sepang, Sebring, Valencia, Imola, Vallelunga, Misano and Portimao were also all chosen as host circuits in previous years.

***In the previous ten editions of the World Finals, a total of 474 drivers representing 53 countries have competed at the event. The U.S. has been best represented with 109 drivers, followed by Italy with 73, France with 36 and Japan with 28.

***Out of those 474, just seven drivers have won a World Finals title twice: Karol Basz, Brandon Gdovic, Andrzej Lewandowski, Bryan Ortiz, Edoardo Piscopo, Jake Rattenbury and Frederik Schandorff.

***The full field of nearly 90 Lamborghini Super Trofeo EVO2 assembled for a group photo at the start of the event (pictured above). Front and center is the No. 188 TR3 Racing machine of Ernie Francis Jr. and Giano Taurino, which won the North American Pro title on Thursday.

***In addition to the U.S. titles, all remaining championships battles in both the European and Asian series were all decided on Friday. Amaury Bonduel defeated Largim Ali and Oliver Soederstroem to win the European Pro championship. Bronislav Formanek and Stefan Rosina won the Pro-Am title, while Shota Abkhazava captured the LB Cup title. The Am title was already decided on Thursday, with Stephane Tribaudini and Piergiacomo Randazzo taking the crown.

***Meanwhile, Dan Wells and Emilien Carde were crowned Asian Pro champions, with Andre Couto and Fangping Chen taking the Pro-Am crown. Solo driver Changwoo Lee won the Am title, with brothers Haziq and Hairie Oh champions in LB Cup.

***Anthony McIntosh, who won a second consecutive Am title in Super Trofeo North America, told Sportscar365 that the back-to-back championship success “solidifies” the progress made by him and co-driver Glenn McGee.

***McIntosh said: “This year was a lot more difficult because there’s a lot of Silver drivers in it. So the competition level is much higher than it was last year. And I think it was fantastic. Everyone did a great job. We changed teams. Wayne Taylor Racing’s been amazing for us. It’s a pretty good fit.”

***Several teams in the Jerez paddock are pulling double duty across a busy weekend for international sports car racing, with the World Finals coinciding with both the FIA GT World Cup at Macau as well as the IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway.

***Vincenzo Sospiri Racing, Schumacher CLRT and Absolute Racing are present both at Jerez and at Macau, while Wayne Taylor Racing and Iron Lynx are simultaneously engaged in Spain and at Daytona.

***Notably, WTR vice president Travis Houge is on-site at Jerez overseeing the Super Trofeo program while his team completes the first significant test with its pair of Cadillac V-Series.Rs at Daytona. Houge told Sportscar365 that his weekend consists of ‘a lot of phone calls back and forth’ as he tries to stay up-to-date with the events in Florida.

***Entries from the three regional championships are spread across the Jerez paddock. The 17 Asian cars have been allocated a dedicated temporary garage structure across from the main paddock building. The European squads, meanwhile, are operating out of their own trucks while the North American teams are based out of the circuit garages.

***A significant number of those garages have been taken up by a fleet of Essenza SCV12 track-only hypercars, which have been allocated a number of 45-minute track sessions throughout the weekend. Also on display in one of the garages is a Lamborghini SC63 LMDh car, decked out in bare carbon.

***Elsewhere in the paddock, Lamborghini is showing off the limited edition Huracan STJ road car model, which was commissioned as a farewell to the brand’s naturally aspirated V10 engine before the Huracan is replaced by the twin-turbo V8-powered Temerario next year. Just ten examples will be built, featuring two all-new carbon fiber aerodynamic appendages on the front and a larger rear wing.

***The Jerez World Finals marks the first edition of the event for Erik Skirmants in his role as Lamborghini North America’s senior motorsports manager. Skirmants was appointed to the role in August.

***Several key figures from IMSA are present at the World Finals. They include Brandon Huddleston, the vice president for Partnership Marketing and Business Development, and single-make platforms director Duane Sampson. Additionally, race director Todd Snyder and senior director of race operations Mark Raffauf are on-site to oversee the final two races of the North American championship.

***Skirmants said: “There was an opportunity presented to us that we could make round six, Race 1 and 2, identical to the U.S. operations as much as possible, considering the FIA certificates are a little different over here. So they let us operate 100 percent with the IMSA officiating team that we’re used to, which kept the consistency and the application of any penalties, should they be needed, under complete agreement with how we do that in North America. Then tonight we have a briefing, and we look forward to our customers getting to race under FIA rules and procedures for the rest of the weekend.”

***Additionally, Lamborghini North America has brought one of its regular partners, sports marketing agency rEvolution, to Jerez to provide activation and hospitality, which Skirmants says was done to provide the brand’s U.S. customer base with “familiar faces” even when competing abroad.

***Several Lamborghini factory drivers will be present at the manufacturer’s end-of-year event, including Sandy Mitchell, Mirko Bortolotti, Marco Mapelli and Loris Spinelli.

***All Super Trofeo cars entered into the event are sporting a moustache sticker on the front in accordance with Movember, the annual initiative raising awareness for prostate cancer.

***Ashton Harrison told Sportscar365 that she hopes her change from Silver to Bronze driver grading for 2025 “opens up some opportunities,” revealing she is hoping to secure a spot on the FIA World Endurance Championship’s LMGT3 grid. “My goal is something in WEC, but I also would love to be back in IMSA for the endurance championship or sprint.”

***With the regular championship rounds for all three regional series completed, the remainder of the weekend will see the World Finals decided through combined grid races from all three regions. Champions will be crowned based on cumulative points across the weekend using the usual Super Trofeo distribution system.

***Races will be split between Pro/Pro-Am and Am/LB Cup. The first Am/LB Cup contest starts on Saturday at 1:55 p.m. CEST (7:55 a.m. EDT), followed by the opening Pro/Pro-Am race at 4:15 p.m. CEST (10:15 a.m. EDT).

***The Super Trofeo world champions will then be crowned with another pair of races held on Sunday, starting with Am/LB Cup at 11:50 a.m. CEST (5:50 a.m. EDT). The Pro/Pro-Am finale is then held at 2:40 p.m. CEST (8:40 a.m. EDT). All races will be streamed live on the official Lamborghini Squadra Corse YouTube channel, with commentary from Bruce Jones.