Making her GT racing debut in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe, Lola Lovinfosse collected valuable experience and secured a Pro class top-20 in a massive 52 car field, surviving extreme weather conditions and incident-filled races.
F1 Academy racer Lola Lovinfosse made her GT racing debut at the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe season opener at Autodromo Enzo and Dino Ferrari in Imola, where she collected valuable experience aboard the #76 Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 operated by Schumacher CLRT team. 18-year-old Lovinfosse shared the car with compatriot Jean-Baptiste Mela in a Pro class entry, securing a top-20 in a massive 52 car field, surviving extreme weather conditions and incident-filled races.
Having been one of Europe's most promising female karting prospects, Lola Lovinfosse made her step into racecars in 2021, when she joined the Spanish F4 Championship. She then joined the grid of the inaugural F1 Academy series in 2023, when she raced for team Campos Racing and claimed three podium finishes and 13 point-scoring results.
The Frenchwoman then moved to Rodin Motorsport for her sophomore campaign in the all-female F1-promoted championship, where she currently represents beauty brand Charlotte Tilbury.
Alongside her single seater campaign, Lovinfosse announced her GT racing debut in the Lamborghini one make series, joining French outfit Schumacher CLRT in their first year in the series. Lola's sports car debut is therefore a significant step for her career, as she expands her opportunities in motor racing.
Just a couple of days after the latest F1 Academy collective test at Zandvoort - held in rainy conditions - Lovinfosse headed to Imola for the first time. She got behind the wheel for the first practice session, where she clocked a 1:46.062 which put her P23 in class. The Schumacher CLRT duo then made big improvements into the second session, where Lovinfosse and Mela significantly closed the gap to the top of the leaderboard and prepared the qualifying on Saturday morning.
Lola took over driving duties for Q1; in her first ever GT qualifying, she continued the progression and recorded a 1:43.266, barely 2 seconds off overall pole position, placing the #76 Huracán in P21 in class - around way more experienced drivers.
Jean-Baptiste Mela jumped in for the second qualifying; while his first run wasn't faster than Lovinfosse's, he eventually improved by a few tenths, setting a 1:42.822 which put the duo in P18 overall, P16 among the Pro cars.
Later in the afternoon, Lovinfosse took the start in her first ever stint in the series as the Lamborghini Super Trofeo season was underway. The 52 car field accelerated away for the first 50 minute contest but a spin on the main straight postponed the green flag by one lap. Lovinfosse had survived the first hectic lap and completed her first ever rolling start in P22 - then gained one more position over the second lap to put the #34 Oregon car behind.
Lovinfosse picked up another position on Galas on lap 6, who was involved in the first start incident and was then handed a drive through penalty. Suddenly, though, the sky turned pitch-black and the rain-heavy clouds approached, with wind and lightning just over the circuit. As the race stayed green, Lovinfosse held her own and kept P21 - when the safety car was eventually deployed for the worsening conditions.
During the caution, teams opted to pit for their driver change and most of the crews went for the wet weather tyres. When Gillion crashed heavily at the exit of Acque Minerali while in safety car conditions, it was soon clear that wets were the only choice. Lola Lovinfosse stayed out one lap longer and, once she pitted, she handed over to Jean Baptiste Mela from P21. Unfortunately, the #76 Schumacher CLRT Lamborghini was trapped at pit exit due to the safety car positioning, which demoted Mela to P23.
The conditions worsened significantly and, with no green flag laps in the second stint, the red flag had to be deployed with 15 minutes to go. The race was not resumed and Lovinfosse/Mela were classified P23 among the Pro class after a very chaotic first race of the season. Nevertheless, the Frenchwoman made no mistakes and was able to complete a consistent debut, having moved up the order in her first stint.
In very different weather conditions on Sunday morning, the sun was back out and the dry track would provide more opportunities to the drivers of the 52 crews on the grid. Jean Baptiste Mela lined up in P16 and had a brilliant getaway: the French driver was soon on a mission, climbing to P11 overall after the first lap of racing. Amaury Bonduel retained the Pro lead from pole position, ahead of Ali and Frassineti.
Mela was pulling away from Guidetti and tried to catch the DL Racing Huracan of Rodrigo Testa when the first Safety Car of the day was deployed for the accident of Spinkiewicz at Tosa. At the restart, a further accident at Tosa involved three cars and again required the intervention of the pace car.
Despite a few more incidents at the restart the race stayed green; the pit window was postponed by three minutes and cars took to the pit lane on lap 11. Mela stayed out and moved up to seventh overall; he ran as high as fourth before pitting on lap 13, when Lola Lovinfosse jumped onboard for her second ever stint in GT cars. The #76 Lamborghini soon ran into trouble and she dropped to P19 in class on her outlap.
Lola then regrouped quickly and battled Badawy, ran good laps and made more progress - before the third safety car of the race was triggered by the sister #13 Schumacher CLRT Huracan of Guerin, who spun in the gravel at Villeneuve chicane with 6 minutes to go. The race eventually ended under safety car, with Lola Lovinfosse taking the chequered flag in P17.
With her first top-20 in the championship, Lola Lovinfosse proved that she is quickly coming to grips with the Huracan Super Trofeo, learning and improving at every lap, every corner.
Despite the massive field and the races heavily disrupted by incidents and safety cars - thus limiting the driving time - the Lovinfosse/Mela duo showed good potential and will be aiming for more progress at the second round of the season at Spa Francorchamps on 9-11 May. But before that, she will be back in action in F1 Academy, as the series heads to Miami on 4-5 May.