This week I visited Sebring International Raceway once again. This time, I was there for testing during another Apex Driving Event. We had beautiful, sunny spring weather, and our mission for this test was to give Elias De La Torre an opportunity in a GT car other than a Porsche.
The Carrera Cup season has gotten off to a great start for Elias. The 18-year-old has a lot of laps at Sebring, and it made sense to introduce him to a new car at that track, since the car itself would be the only variable that was unfamiliar to him.
Elias was testing a Lamborghini Super Trofeo. Even though it was his first time in the car, it’s a very familiar car to me. I had fun helping Elias adapt to the nuances of the Lamborghini compared to the Porsche. There’s additional horsepower as well as more aerodynamic downforce to contend with in the Lamborghini.
As you might imagine, the cars do drive quite differently, and extracting peak performance out of each car is done in a different way. As we wrapped up the first day and moved into the second, Elias really had an understanding for what made the car work well, and he executed beautifully to harness the full potential of the car.
We had a great benchmark for lap times because Lamborghini Super Trofeo had its series opener at Sebring last month, during the 12-Hour weekend. We were excited to see Elias was running competitive times!
It was really rewarding to watch Elias evolve in a new setting and to really make the most of this opportunity. This also gives him a tremendous amount of confidence as he gets back into the Porsche in just a couple weeks’ time at the Miami Grand Prix.