Grosjean Jumping into First Lamborghini Laps at Roar

Romain Grosjean says he is “very much looking forward” to turning his first laps in the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 at this weekend’s Roar Before the Rolex 24.

The ex-Formula 1 driver and current NTT IndyCar Series competitor is racing for Iron Lynx in the GTD Pro class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opener at Daytona International Speedway.

Grosjean, who is teaming up with Andrea Caldarelli, Mirko Bortolotti and Jordan Pepper, is arriving into the Rolex 24 without any experience behind the wheel of the updated Lamborghini and admitted that this has impacted his preparedness for the event.

“I’m very much looking forward to it,” Grosjean told Sportscar365.

“It’s one of those experiences in one of the biggest races of the world where you want to do well. It’s my first time at Daytona, so coming in it was very impressive as a place.

“Am I prepared? Not really. I wasn’t able to test in December and I’ve never driven the car or the track. So there’s a bit of learning in that aspect, but luckily I have great teammates with knowledge of the car.

“I’m just going to rely on them and work with them to ensure we do the best job possible.”

Grosjean is not new to 24-hour endurance racing but his last appearance in such an event occurred 13 years ago.

As a 24-year-old, he contested the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Spa. In the former, he shared a Matech Competition Ford GT1 with Thomas Mutsch and Jonathan Hirschi, while in the latter he drove a Mosler MT900R.

“I had a lovely experience then and it was really good,” Grosjean reflected.

“I had a lot of fun, and I’m very much looking forward to doing some more [24-hour races].

“The more you grow up and the more experience you get, the more you want to share the car with teammates. That’s going to be a lot of fun.

“U.S. racing is very different from European: you can be a lap down two hours from the end, but that doesn’t mean you’re not going to be able to win the race.

“We just need to make sure that we stay in the game and can take the maximum of this American racing type.”

Iron Lynx is taking a race-by-race approach to its Michelin Endurance Cup GTD Pro driving squad, with the plan to have one driver doing all four races in a bid for the championship.

Grosjean indicated that the potential for further Lamborghini GT3 outings this year depends on how his schedule plays out.

The 36-year-old will be driving for Andretti Autosport in the NTT IndyCar Series, however there are no date clashes with the Endurance Cup this year.

“I think it all depends on the calendar, which is very busy between IndyCar and marketing experiences,” Grosjean explained.

“There is going to be the development of the LMDh later on as well. If we have time, yes of course… I love racing. But if not, I don’t think it’s a huge deal.”

Grosjean’s role as a Lamborghini factory driver is mainly focused on the manufacturer’s LMDh project, although the U.S.-based Frenchman has been limited in the work he can do for the project so far.

“I’ve seen the car and the development, and I’ve been speaking with the engineers,” he said.

“I know it’s going to be later this year that we actually go on track, so that’s where my job kicks in. Living in the U.S., I can’t [frequently] fly to Italy for the simulator.

“So Andrea Caldarelli is doing the work there, but I’ve read the reports. We are off to a decent start.”