Emil Frey Expands to Three-Car Lamborghini Effort

Emil Frey Racing will expand to a three-car Lamborghini program in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS with a pair of entries in Pro and one in Silver Cup.

The former Jaguar and Lexus outfit ran two Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evos last year, for what was its maiden GTWC Europe campaign with the Italian manufacturer off the back of an International GT Open title triumph in 2019.

Emil Frey will operate its trio of vehicles in both Endurance Cup and Sprint Cup.

Williams Formula 1 reserve Jack Aitken, who made his Grand Prix debut in last year’s Sakhir GP, will gain his first sports car racing experience as part of the No. 140 entry.

Aitken will share the wheel with fellow GT3 rookie Konsta Lappalainen, while former Sainteloc Racing Audi driver Arthur Rougier will join the pair for the Endurance Cup rounds including the Total 24 Hours of Spa.

The No. 163 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini will be driven by Norbert Siedler and Albert Costa in Sprint, with Giacomo Altoe coming in for the long-distance rounds.

Emil Frey’s new Silver Cup entry bearing the No. 14 label features an all-Swiss driving trio in Alex Fontana, Ricardo Feller and Rolf Ineichen.

Fontana, who was a member of Emil Frey’s Jaguar program before joining AKKA-ASP, and Feller will drive in Sprint while Ineichen comes on board for the enduros.

“The season ending late in 2020 due to the coronavirus resulted in a shorter winter break for us,” said team principal Lorenz Frey-Hilti.

“The mechanics did comprehensive maintenance work on the cars and all our equipment, while the engineers analyzed the telemetry data and onboard footage to improve the strategy and optimize processes.

“I’m very excited and optimistic about the continuation and strengthening of our partnership by adding a third car.

“The level of expertise is extremely high, especially in this premier class of GT3. Winning is just a matter of seconds. This is why we greatly value the professional and active exchange with Lamborghini Squadra Corse.

“We’re a well-coordinated team aiming for strong results.”

The full nine-man lineup contains a mixture of drivers who represented Emil Frey last season and new signings such as Aitken and 19-year-old Finnish driver Lappalainen.

Aitken finished second in the 2017 GP3 Series before graduating to FIA Formula 2 where he spent three seasons. His best result was fifth in 2019 driving for Campos Racing. The British-Korean racer was retained as the Williams F1 team’s reserve driver last week.

“It’s very exciting to start on a new discipline and add a new set of skills to my experience in single seaters, and I can’t wait to start learning,” said Aitken.

“I’ve met much of the team at Emil Frey already and felt comfortable working with them from the start, they have a professionalism and attention to detail that matches anything I’ve seen so far in my career. This year will be a fantastic opportunity for me to broaden my abilities as a driver, and I intend to make the most of it.”

Lappalainen joins sports cars fresh out of the Formula Regional European Championship. His open-wheel resume includes winning the SMP Formula 4 series in 2018.

Siedler and Feller shared a Pro-class Emil Frey Huracan last year with Mikael Grenier, while Lamborghini factory drivers Altoe and Costa teamed up with Franck Perera.

Emil Frey’s best Endurance Cup result was eighth in the Paul Ricard 1000km season finale, while Altoe and Costa ended up as the fourth-best pairing in the Sprint standings.