Courtney Crone made her Lamborghini Super Trofeo debut at Sebring and showed promising speed during her stint in race one, before race two was ended prematurely following contact on the opening lap.
Courtney Crone experienced a challenging start to her debut Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America season with a best result of eighth at Sebring International Raceway.
Teaming up with Scott Huffaker in the ProAm class for World Speed, the duo ran as high as fourth in class during race one, before taking the checkered flag in eighth. Crone showed promising speed during her stint in race one, before race two was ended prematurely following contact on the opening lap.
Courtney made the switch to Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America following a successful stint in prototype racing, where she enjoyed considerable success racing Ligier, Ginetta and Duqueine machinery. After making her LMP3 debut at Daytona in January 2021, Crone finished sixth in the 2022 IMSA Prototype Challenge Championship with a best result of fifth also coming at Daytona.
Continuing her prototype racing development in 2023, Crone dovetailed a joint programme in both the IMSA VP Racing Sportscar Challenge and Prototype Cup Germany. Learning new circuits in Europe, Courtney’s best finish in Prototype Cup Germany was a fourth-place result coming at Assen in the Netherlands. Building upon her previous success stateside, Crone drove for Forty7 Motorsports on her way to fourth in the overall LMP3 standings of the IMSA VP Racing Sportscar Challenge. Finishing on the podium six times in 12 races, with a runner-up result at Road Atlanta, Crone asserted herself as a consistent frontrunner.
Using funds received from being named as one of four female drivers in the IMSA Diverse Driver Development program, Crone has teamed up with World Speed for an assault on the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America ProAm class championship alongside Scott Huffaker. The championship will visit some of the most iconic circuits in America including Laguna Seca and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with Sebring International Raceway playing host to the opening round of the season.
The event got underway on Wednesday with a pair of free practice sessions in preparation for qualifying. Finishing both sessions seventh in ProAm, the World Speed pair found good improvements over the course of the day to give cause for optimism heading into qualifying.
Qualifying was split into two sessions, with Courtney and Scott driving in one session each to set the grid for races one and two respectively. Huffaker took to the track for World Speed in the first session and set a best time of 2:03.356 which placed him seventh in a highly competitive ProAm class.
The second session was driven by Crone who steadily improved her lap times throughout. Setting her quickest time on the final lap of the session, she ended her maiden Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America qualifying session in tenth position in class.
The first fifty-minute race of the event was started by Huffaker who made an excellent start in his Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America debut. Overtaking Nikko Reger for sixth in ProAm, the race was then neutralised before the end of lap one following a crash for Graham Doyle. A lengthy cleanup meant a period of over ten minutes behind the safety car, with Huffaker slipping back to seventh on the restart.
As the opening stint reached its conclusion, Huffaker held his position on track as the pit sequence begun. The World Speed team elected to leave Scott out on track as late as possible due to his strong pace, with the American driver running as high as seventh overall, fourth in ProAm. Taking over the #22 World Speed machine on lap 11, Crone set about getting into her rhythm and building experience.
At the conclusion of the pit cycle, Courtney ran eighth in ProAm and was quickly promoted to seventh following a drive-through penalty for class rival Garrett Adams. After losing out to Tyler Hoffman on lap 15, Crone was running amongst the Am class leaders and was doing well to hold off the challenge of fellow ProAm competitor AJ Muss.
In the closing stages of the race, Crone’s pace was extremely consistent and this saw her gain time on the drivers ahead, lapping at a pace which matched those in the top-10 overall. Taking the checkered flag eighth in ProAm, 17th overall, it was a promising debut for Courtney who had adapted well to a vastly different style to that of an LMP3 prototype.
Crone took the start for race two on Friday afternoon and was looking to make a good start, however contact on the opening lap forced the World Speed driver into the pit lane. With the damage substantial enough to bring an end to the race, it was an unfortunate end to the event where Courtney got her first taste of Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America action.
Despite not achieving the ultimate results at Sebring, it was a good weekend of development for Crone who made the switch from prototype racing. Her race pace in the closing stages of race one was especially encouraging and it is this which she will be aiming to build upon as the season progresses.
Crone and Huffaker will be targeting podium finishes in the ProAm class, with the next event on the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America calendar taking place at Laguna Seca on May 10th-12th.