Photo: Jamey Price/Lamborghini
Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America will continue its tradition of visiting Virginia International Raceway but with a revised date and event for the 2021 season, IMSA announced on Tuesday.
The single-make series will join the SRO America weekend at the VIR on June 4-6, for what will be Rounds 3 and 4 of the season.
It comes after the moving of IMSA’s Michelin GT Challenge weekend from August to October that made it unfeasible for Super Trofeo teams due to the late October date of its sixth round of the season and World Final in Misano, Italy.
Chris Ward, senior manager for Automobili Lamborghini America explained to Sportscar365: “Since the ACO changed the date of Le Mans, which then impacted IMSA’s VIR date, it meant that we weren’t going to be able to attend to that VIR date.
“We’ve spent countless hours trying to find a replacement weekend.
“Our cars race really well at VIR and we love going to the circuit. Kerrigan [Smith] and Connie [Nyholm] do a wonderful job with that track, so we were delighted that we were able to work with Greg [Gill] at SRO America and our partners at IMSA to put a program together to have us compete at that weekend.
“We’re very pleased that we’ll be able to revisit our longest-standing circuit in the championship in North America and delighted we were able to keep it on the calendar.”
It will mark the second consecutive SRO America event featuring an IMSA-sanctioned series on the weekend bill following the addition of Porsche Carrera Cup North America to its COTA weekend earlier this month.
Super Trofeo North America kicks off its season this weekend at COTA as part of the inaugural NASCAR event at the circuit.
“It’s going to be a year of more firsts,” Ward said. “We didn’t think after last year we could follow up with any more firsts.
“But this will be the first time we’ll take Super Trofeo to the SRO America paddock.
“We’re not stranger to that paddock, as the Super Trofeo championship competes in the SRO paddocks in both Europe and Asia, when that series happens. Stephane Ratel and the SRO organization are well known to us.
“We’re grateful that they’ve found space for us to join them.”
Ward said he expects the integration into the SRO paddock for the VIR event to be seamless, particularly with existing partnerships such as Pirelli, which supplies both the Super Trofeo and SRO America series.
“Our technical partners at Pirelli are going to have their hands full with the enormous field of Super Trofeos,” he said.
“Logistically it all works. It’s going to challenge some of the teams and drivers competing in Super Trofeo that already had prior engagements or are running in other series.
“It’s not ideal but in this pandemic world I think we’ve all learned that we have to adjust.
“Trying to find spare weekends with promoters is very, very challenging, particularly with the time constraint of getting it done before Laguna Seca, it was no mean feat.
“We’ve pulled it off and we’re excited to go to VIR.”
2021 Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America Schedule (Revised):
May 21-23 — Circuit of The Americas
June 4-6 — Virginia International Raceway
June 24-27 — Watkins Glen International
Aug. 6-8 — Road America
Sept. 10-12 — WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
Oct. 28-29 — Misano
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