Lindsay Brewer and Jem Hepworth show top-10 potential in Lamborghini World Finals Pro-Am class
- RACERS
- 4 hours ago
- 7 min read
Lindsay Brewer and Jem Hepworth completed a remarkable first season together in Lamborghini Super Trofeo by stepping up to the ProAm class for the World Finals, showing pace and fighting for top-ten positions in a world-class field before late misfortunes cut their weekend short — yet, they can take pride in a really strong North American championship.
After taking a second place and a victory in the AM class in the final round of the North American championship, Lindsay Brewer and Jem Hepworth were promoted to the ProAm class for the Lamborghini World Finals, which would crown the 2025 world champions. The very realistic goal a top ten finish in a large field featuring some of the best ProAm lineups from across the globe, which would build a solid foundation after a remarkable year in the North American series, where they came close to the title and were consistent podium contenders.
Brewer took the wheel for the opening qualifying session. On fresh tyres, the American racer built speed steadily: she initially set a 1:37.028, then improved to 1:36.8, and kept finding more tenths throughout the session. Eventually, she clocked two laps in the 1:36.1 range, with her best time placing the #102 RAFA Racing Huracán eleventh in ProAm.
Jem Hepworth took over soon after for the second leg of qualifying and was quickly into the 1:36s. She progressively improved her pace, setting a 1:36.541 that placed her in the class top ten. Finding one more tenth, she recorded a 1:36.473, ultimately ending again eleventh in class for the grid of the second race.
Following the team’s strategy from the final continental rounds, Brewer took the start of the first race, lining up from row 18 and 11th in class. In a very busy field of almost 40 cars and many Pro drivers from Europe, North America, and Asia — Brewer held her ground well at Turn 1, slotting into 12th in class. She was back up to 11th by lap 3, running solidly and gaining two more overall positions by lap 6, up to 10th in class and showing pace for a top-ten.
Brewer was running consistent lap times in the 1:37.7 range, improving to 1:37.6, then 1:37.5, as she closed in on the cars ahead and demonstrated strong pace compared to other ProAm competitors. She gained one overall position to P30 on lap 10, continued to push forward, and maintained her class top ten. Two more overall spots followed — up to 28th, setting her best lap at 1:36.9, which would stand as the car’s fastest lap of the race until the end.
At the end of a particularly strong stint, one of her best performances to date in such a competitive field, Brewer pitted from 25th overall and 10th in ProAm, having gained eight positions overall, and handed the car over to Hepworth.
However, a very busy pit lane and a car parking right before RAFA Racing’s pit box caused a small delay, costing them a few seconds. Hepworth rejoined in eleventh, but top-ten pace remained achievable, as both drivers had shown strong speed.
Hepworth lapped consistently in the 1:37.4 range, initially managing traffic from Pro class cars. She continued with steady 1:37.5s, though two Pro cars — Siderman and Huang — passed her on lap 18.
Jem began gaining time on class rival Doyle, the two matching each other’s times over the following laps. Still holding P11, the race remained wide open, with a possible top-ten result in sight for RAFA Racing.
As the sun went down, the lights of the 37 cars illuminated the Misano World Circuit. The opportunity Hepworth was waiting for came with 14 minutes to go when the #203 Huracán of Liu Kai Shun went off track, triggering the safety car. Simultaneously, the #10 Target Racing Huracán of Luchetti came to a halt.
With the field bunched up again, Hepworth was now right behind Doyle, with several potential ProAm positions ahead to gain — while Marc Miller behind was also quick, adding some pressure.
When the green flag waved again with 7 minutes to go, Hepworth made an excellent restart, immediately clearing Doyle. In a chaotic restart with cars going three and four wide, she superbly carved her way through, gaining two positions overall and moving into ninth in class, passing Locanto.
She then chased the #33 of Ruffini, just over a second ahead, and overtook him with 2 minutes remaining. However, a contact would prove costly. Jem climbed to eighth in ProAm in the final minutes and was closing on the #111 of Karlinskas, but the incident was under investigation.
She crossed the finish line eighth, was briefly promoted to sixth after penalties ahead, but then a 10-second penalty for the #102 RAFA Racing car was also applied, dropping Hepworth and Brewer back to eleventh — just outside the top ten they had proven to belong in, given their pace in such a competitive international field.
“Moving up to ProAm, we didn't really know what we'd expect”, said Brewer. “We were gonna just go in and do our best, and do everything possible that we could. Starting the race, I had a bit of a mishap on the start, so got a few positions taken, fell a few positions back, but then I was able to pass four or five cars. That was great, and then handed it over to Jem, and we ended up P6 in class, but we had a couple of penalties, so we ended up 11th. Overall, it was a good first time in ProAm, and we wanted more.”
“The first race in the World Finals was definitely chaotic, definitely difficult”, Hepworth recalled.
“Lindsay did a good job though, maintaining the pace and keeping it where we could for a long time, and then I got in the car halfway through.”
“I felt a small issue, but nothing too major to affect our pace, so just tried to keep it where we were then luckily we got a safety car to bunch everyone back up again, so I was like okay, now we can push. Now we can maybe get some places.”
“I made a bit of a silly move I would say, up the inside of another car and unfortunately got a little bit of damage which affected the end of the race. But that gave us a 10 second penalty as well.”
“Although we finished the actual race about 25th, and P6 in class, then obviously the penalty came into play and it pushed us back, but we can take on track that we finished P6 in class and our main goal was to finish in the top 10, so we're very happy with that.”
On another chilly early afternoon, the second race of the World Finals for the Pro and ProAm classes combined would determine the final titles of the weekend.
Hepworth started the #102 RAFA Racing Huracán, lining up eleventh in class and on the 16th row overall.
She immediately gained one class position to P10 on the first lap amid a large pack of cars; an incident for the #36 Oregon car of Knopp, which was collected by the #263 of Liang as it spun into Turn 1, brought out the safety car at the end of lap 1, with all cars directed through the pit lane as marshals cleared the track.
The race resumed at the end of lap 2, with Hepworth up to ninth place but having to manage traffic from faster Pro class cars coming from the back. On lap 4, Doyle crashed after tagging and spinning Ruffini, collecting him in the process, though the race remained green.
With several incidents throughout the pack, Jem climbed to 29th overall, while Diego Locanto closed in behind her for class position. By lap 6, Hepworth picked up the pace, dipping into the 1:37s for the first time and pulling away from Locanto. Settling into a rhythm with 1:37.4 laps, she then faced a loss of power and was eventually forced to pull into the pits on lap 8, sadly ending their World Finals event.
“It's really frustrating because I came in today so ready for this race, I was ready to start the race, had a really, really good start, missed all the carnage on the first lap, made up some places and I was like okay, I'm feeling this, this is feeling good”, Hepworth explained. “And then unfortunately we had a mechanical failure about four laps later. It progressively got worse and worse and we had to retire the car, otherwise it could have caused even more damage to something else and we didn't want to do that.”
“But a real shame, obviously. It's a shame that we couldn't get Lindsay in the car as well, I feel for her, but we've showed our pace and we're just going to hang on to those two North American races this weekend that we smashed with a second place and a victory as well. So we're going to hold on to that, and we know we can fight with them, we've shown that pace and that's what we had to do.”
“I think we still were just looking for a bit of that last pace”, Lindsay added. “We had an issue with the car and the engine was cutting out a little bit on power, and we didn't really know what that was – an then that moved over to today's race. The engine completely cut on power for Jem's stint, so I wasn't able to drive today, unfortunately.”
“But it was overall a great week”, she continued. “We had a really great time in the North American championship, and winning that race, so a great experience. Obviously, I wish I could have driven today, but still a great time.”
Although their World Finals ended in disappointment, RAFA Racing’s all-female duo had an impressive debut season together. Both drivers stepped into an unfamiliar race car and immediately proved competitive in the North American championship — coming just two points short of the title, with multiple podiums and two victories. It was a successful year that both Brewer and Hepworth can take pride in, providing a strong foundation to build on for next season.