Caldarelli: “Quite Remarkable” Start to Temerario GT3 Debut

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Andrea Caldarelli said the opening day of official track action for the Lamborghini Temerario GT3 was “quite remarkable” ahead of the car’s highly anticipated competition debut in this weekend’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

With no major issues reported in Thursday’s first 90-minute practice session, Caldarelli said he was left encouraged on their possibilities for the remainder of the weekend.

Caldarelli and fellow Lamborghini factory drivers Sandy Mitchell and Franck Perera will share driving duties of the Pfaff Motorsports-run GTD Pro entry in the Florida endurance classic.

“I think [Thursday] morning we showed that we went out and not had any sort of issue with the IMSA systems and so-on. That was a great achievement,” Caldarelli told Sportscar365.

“We did all our run plans scheduled. We didn’t have any issues or so-on. We already felt very comfortable just going out and talking already about performance.

“I think that’s quite remarkable.”

The maiden race weekend for the Italian manufacturer’s new flagship GT3 car comes after more than 15,000 kms of testing over the last eight months, with all of its North American runs done hand-in-hand with the Canadian Pfaff squad.

Caldarelli praised the level of preparation from the Steve Bortolotti-led operation, which has been a Lamborghini partner team since last year.

“They were the first one to receive the car,” he said. “If you go down and look at the state of the car, it looks like it’s a car that’s been around for a few years.

“It’s pretty impressive.”

When asked about his expectations for Saturday’s around-the-clock enduro, Caldarelli echoed the sentiments of Lamborghini chief technical officer Rouven Mohr, who is hoping the car will make it to the finish.

“Realistically, that’s what it is,” said Caldarelli. “Obviously as a manufacturer, the first thing we want to make sure when we have a new car is that it works well. On the second hand, there’s performance.

“We come here with that in our mind.

“At the same time we are here racing. At least from our side, as team and drivers, we are here to improve the car all the time, every time we go out.

“I just want to go out there and still give it a go. We know the car has been behaving quite well in the testing.

“We also know that we don’t have so much data with this tire and this championship and so-on. It’s going to be a catch-up work we have to do.”

He added: “The first Free Practice we wanted to see more or less where we were. We were not focusing much on lap times.

“I literally went out in the beginning to make sure everything worked. We didn’t even look at the lap times.

“But by the end of the session, we already started to see where we are compared to the competitors.

“The expectations are for sure to finish the race without major problems, hopefully on the same lead lap as the other guys.

“IMSA is always an open race until the end.”

Caldarelli “Really Proud” to Be At Ground Level With Program

The 36-year-old Italian, who has been a Lamborghini factory driver since 2017, said he’s proud to have been part of the Temerario GT3 program from the start.

“I was very excited when I drove out the car for the first time last year,” he said. “It was an honor for me, the same as I did with the SC63 LMDh car.

“We know this is going to be a big, big chapter that is going to carry on for many years for Lamborghini.

“It’s definitely been really tough in terms of schedule and timing of the development last year because we didn’t have much time to spend.

“But I’m really proud to be part of this team.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John