Grosjean Believes Lamborghini Could Have Won With Late Yellow

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Romain Grosjean believes the Lamborghini SC63 could have claimed victory in last weekend’s Motul Petit Le Mans had there been a late-race full-course caution to take the fight to the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R.

Grosjean and co-drivers Eduardo Mortara and Daniil Kyvat settled for a fourth-place finish in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale, in what could have been the Ligier-chassied LMDh car’s final race outing, after an impressive closing stint by the ex-Formula 1 driver.

While the Riley-run prototype wasn’t in contention in the early stages of the ten-hour enduro at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, an energy-saving strategy executed by the factory squad put Grosjean in prime position in the final hour, which saw the No. 63 car run as high as second, behind the eventual race-winning Action Express Cadillac of Earl Bamber until being forced to pit for a top-up of energy with five-and-a-half minutes to go.

It dropped Grosjean outside of podium contention, although still gave the car its best-ever finish in global sports car racing competition, on a day that saw the two ‘underdog’ GTP entries shine, with the Aston Martin Valkyrie picking up a second place finish.

“We had a few small glitches that cost us a bit of time in the pit but overall, I think we can be very happy with P4, the best result of the car,” Grosjean told Sportscar365.

“We were hoping for a yellow towards the end. That did not happen but the statistics were very high that it would happen and it didn’t happen.

“I don’t think luck was on our side. But we did everything we could.

“There were bits and pieces. We lost some time during the refueling; there was an issue where the car wouldn’t go, so we lost four seconds on one pit stop and five seconds on another one.

“All in all, the team did an amazing job. The car was good. I drove the hell out of it but it was just a bit shy.”

When asked if he believes he could have overtaken Bamber on a late-race restart, had he not been forced down pit lane for additional energy in the dying minutes, Grosjean said he fully believed in the strength of the car.

“I was pretty good in braking in Turn 10,” he explained. “We had a good top speed from the BoP.

“If I had a run on any of the cars in front of me, I would have sent it in Turn 10 and made the pass. It is what it is.”

The No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Valkyrie, which was on an opposite strategy to the Lamborghini, ended up finishing a career-best second, in the race that saw the final 3 hours and 51 minutes run caution-free.

“It was kind of a weird race because we were in the back for most of it but we were saving a lot of energy,” said Grosjean. “We had a bit of a different strategy.

“Aston was on the complete opposite [strategy]. Good job to them but they never saved fuel and they were lucky they could go to the end like this.

“We would have loved to have been on the podium.”

While it was the final scheduled race for the SC63 prior to a planned “pause” of the race program next year, Grosjean said he believes the car holds a significant amount of potential, especially if additional Evo jokers are deployed.

The car debuted a brand-new rear suspension package in last month’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which again showed significant promise at Road Atlanta.

“I think there is potential somewhere,” said Grosjean. “We’ve shown it this weekend. I think a new aero kit would be fantastic.

“If it’s the end, we’ll see.”

Davey Euwema contributed to this report

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