Bamber, De La Torre Take TR3 to Victory on Thursday

Photo: Jamey Price/Lamborghini

Will Bamber and Elias Da La Torre got their Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America title pursuit off to a strong start on Thursday, winning Round 1 at Sebring International Raceway.

De La Torre took the No. 29 TR3 Racing Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 to a 5.157-second win over the No. 1 Wayne Taylor Racing entry of Nick Persing and defending Pro class champion Hampus Ericsson.

It came after a perfect start for pole-sitter Bamber, who stretched out to an early lead over Pro-Am class pace-setter Danny Formal until the mandatory mid-race pit stop and driver changes in the 50-minute caution-free contest.

Graham Doyle, in the Pro-Am class-leading No. 10 WTR entry, emerged second overall from the pit sequence following Formal’s strong start although Doyle ran off-course while battling with teammate Persing in the final 20 minutes, dropping him to third overall.

Formal and Doyle, however, still took Pro-Am honors, coming in both drivers’ class debuts.

It came despite the No. 10 Lamborghini receiving a 1.23-second post-race time penalty for having too short of a pit stop.

The No. 28 Alliance Racing Lamborghini of Ernie Francis Jr. was fourth overall and completed the Pro class podium, thanks to a late-race pass on the No. 46 Precision Performance Motorsports entry of Brandon Gdovic, who finished fourth in class.

Dominic Starkweather and Darius Trinka in the new XONINE RACING team completed the top-five in Pro and saw its sister entry of Nick Groat take Am class honors.

It came after the 89x Motorsports machine of Johan Schwartz, who led the early stages in the lass, was handed a drive-through penalty for a pit lane speed violation.

Schwartz finished third in class, behind the second-placed PPM entry of David Staab.

Taurino Racing’s Ray Shahi claimed victory in LB Cup after Rocky T Bolduc was also handed a drive-through penalty due to being more than one second under the minimum pit stop time.

A record 13-car Pro class field took the green flag, marking a new high point for the single-make series that had an impressive 39-car overall grid.

The second and final Super Trofeo race of the weekend gets underway Friday at 4:35 p.m. EST with live coverage on Peacock as well as IMSA and Lamborghini’s YouTube channels.

RESULTS: Race 1

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