De La Torre: Barcelona Cameo Helped World Finals Prep

Elias De La Torre said his recent cameo outing in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe round at Barcelona was a “great learning tool” ahead of his second appearance at the brand’s end-of-season World Finals event with TR3 Racing.

The Florida native took part in his first World Finals last year as a solo driver and has returned a year later, lining up at Misano as part of his full season pairing with Will Bamber.

De La Torre and Bamber finished second in the Super Trofeo North America driver standings after a pair of wins at Watkins Glen and now look to become the first North American entry since 2022 to claim the Pro world championship.

As part of his preparations for the World Finals, De La Torre recently made a cameo appearance during the penultimate round of the Super Trofeo Europe season, piloting a Leipert Motorsport-entered Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

“It’s helped a lot, just because this is more of a European atmosphere,” De La Torre said about his Barcelona outing.

“The rules are quite different from America, even though some of ours is blended in for our round.

“But it was a great learning tool to have Barcelona and be able to use that to benefit here.”

De La Torre made his sports car racing debut in Porsche Carrera Cup North America in 2023, then added a partial Lamborghini season to his schedule in 2024 before fully moving over to the latter as he became part of its Young Driver program.

“It’s my third full season racing and we did half the season of Super Trofeo last year and it’s all come down to improving over the season,” De La Torre said.

“I think from Sebring to now, I took a great step, thankfully, because Will Bamber is a great teacher.

“He helped me with all of his experience to improve myself and I think we’ve come a long way.”

De La Torre said that his experience of last year’s World Finals, which were held in Jerez, has helped make his second time at the event easier.

“You know more what to expect, especially with the rules,” he said.

“I’ve never done the starts the way they did it in Jerez. Definitely easier this time, especially [because] I know the drivers, I know the car better and it just made everything easier.”

With that knowledge under his belt, De La Torre said he is confident he can have a “smooth transition” even as he competes on a type of circuit that is significantly different from the type that the North American series visits.

“Thankfully we have two days of testing and a whole weekend for North America here,” he said.

“So I think by then, the track wise, we should all be calibrated and everything. It’s just adapting to the starts, the restarts, especially the Full Course Yellow.

“That’s quite different to America. But besides that, I think it should be quit a smooth transition.”