As last year’s winners of the prestigious CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, TGI Team by GRT faced a completely different challenge last weekend at the season’s highlight of the GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Endurance Cup. The classic in Belgium, held from 24 to 28 June, marked the first major endurance contest for the Lamborghini Temerario GT3. During the build-up and qualifying sessions, the team around Mirko Bortolotti, Franck Perera and Maximilian Paul fully exploited the new car’s potential. However, following a promising start to the race, the squad was forced to retire unexpectedly early due to a technical issue.

The world’s GT3 elite gathered at the legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps this year for the ultimate showdown, with 69 entries from ten manufacturers. Midsummer temperatures well above the 30-degree mark turned the sessions on the 7.004-kilometre circuit in the Ardennes into a gruelling test for the cars right from the first practice session. Lamborghini Squadra Corse supported Team TGI by GRT held its own from the very beginning with the Lamborghini Temerario GT3, which had previously seen little action on this territory. In Thursday’s qualifying, the three Lamborghini Factory Drivers confidently secured their place in the Superpole. In Friday’s shootout for the Top 32, Mirko Bortolotti finished 17th, meaning the #63 was once again the highest-placed Lamborghini Temerario GT3 on the grid.

Mirko Bortolotti also took to the start of the world’s most competitive GT3 race on Saturday at 4:30 pm CEST. During the first stint, the 36-year-old Italian held his own in the fiercely contested pack and gained one position before the first driver change. By this point, an issue had already arisen with the #63 Lamborghini Temerario GT3, which the team then worked feverishly to resolve. Despite this, Franck Perera and Maximilian Paul managed to stay within the Top 20 as the evening wore on. After 108 laps, however, the Frenchman was forced to head for the pits at around 9.30 pm. The crew managed to resolve the issue during an extended pit stop and sent Maximilian Paul back out later that night. With no prospect of a result, the German eventually parked the car in the garage following a successful systems check.

TGI Team by GRT will be back in action straight away in the DTM with Mirko Bortolotti and Maximilian Paul this coming weekend. The fourth event at the Norisring is scheduled for 3–5 July. In the GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Endurance Cup, the action continues from 28–30 August with the 3-hour race at the Nürburgring.

#63 TGI Team by GRT
Mirko Bortolotti (ITA) / Franck Perera (FRA) / Maximilian Paul (GER)
Qualifying: P17 – Race: DNF

Mirko Bortolotti: “A very frustrating and disappointing 24 Hours of Spa for us this year. Technical issues early in the race compromised our chances and ultimately forced us to retire. On the positive side, I’m pleased that we were able to extract the maximum potential from the car. At the same time, it also highlighted that the competitiveness gap remains significant. We know where we stand, and we need to keep working hard to reduce that deficit and come back stronger in the races ahead.”

Franck Perera: “It’s a shame to have to retire so early in a 24-hour race. But the team did a brilliant job again this week and we’ve learnt a lot. All of us drivers were really happy with the balance. I think we could have fought for a place in the Top 10 over the full distance. But it’s a new car and races like this are all part of the process. Thanks to the crew, my team-mates and Lamborghini. I’m looking forward to getting back in the car soon and seeing further progress.”

Maximilian Paul: “As a team, we’d prepared ourselves to deliver a clean race. The aim was to push as hard as possible and avoid making any mistakes, and we were running well until we encountered this technical problem in the second hour of the race. We then tried to fix it, and three stints later we were almost certain it had been sorted. But unfortunately it came back and we had to retire. It’s a real shame, as this weekend requires an enormous amount of work and both the team and us drivers have really put a lot into it.”

Gottfried Grasser, Team Principal: “The practice sessions confirmed the impression we got from the prologue that, with the new car, we are not yet able to match the front-runners in terms of performance. However, we found a good balance and extracted every last bit of pace possible from the car. That was an outstanding performance from the team. Unfortunately, it didn’t do us much good in terms of the race. We realised straight after the start that we were slightly down on power. We then continued the race trying to find the issue, and at times things were looking quite promising. But at some point we had to call the car in. We then replaced several components and were at least able to verify overnight that everything was working perfectly again. After last year’s unforgettable victory, we’ve seen a different side to the Spa 24 Hours this year. Not finishing the race is disappointing, but we’ll pick ourselves up and carry on. We’ll have a new chance at the Norisring in a few days’ time.”