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Season Opener at Paul Ricard: Mountain Wolf Lamborghini GT3 EVO2 in New Colors and with Top-Class Line-Up

Apr 16, 2025 | News, Partnerships

Mountain Wolf Lamborghini in new colours on race track

The 2025 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup kicked off with a thrilling 6-hour race at Circuit Paul Ricard, 12–13 April 2025. Mountain Wolf proudly entered the new season with a bold new look for its Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 and a top-tier driver line-up: Luca Engstler, Jordan Pepper, and Mirko Bortolotti, the reigning DTM Champion. Returning to familiar ground, Bortolotti rejoined the Grasser Racing Team, a squad with which he has celebrated numerous past successes. “It felt like coming home to a family I hadn’t seen in a long time,” he stated ahead of the weekend.

Strong Start in Practice and Qualifying

Friday’s Free Practice saw the #63 car finish P8 after a productive two-hour session focused on adapting to the conditions. In Pre-Qualifying later that evening, the Mountain Wolf crew improved to P6 overall.

Saturday’s Qualifying session was a standout moment: with combined times just 0.135 seconds off pole, Bortolotti, Engstler, and Pepper secured P3 on the grid, showcasing the car’s one-lap pace and their synergy as a team.

Mirko Bortolotti, Jordan Pepper, Luca Engstler

The Race: Fighting Spirit Under the Lights

At race start, Mirko Bortolotti took the wheel for the opening stint and wasted no time making moves overtaking the GetSpeed Mercedes of Jules Gounon in the opening minutes. While the early pace was promising, a flying McLaren car soon found its way past, and as the race progressed, changing conditions challenged the Lamborghini’s performance.
After the driver change to Luca Engstler, the team experienced a mix of ups and downs, battling through heavy traffic and fierce competition. In the final hours of the race, during Mirko Bortolotti’s closing stint, the #63 car was twice hit by car #163, costing the team valuable time and track position.

A strategic comeback was in sight, especially with heavy rain forecast for the final hour but the rain began to fall only moments after the race had ended.

Despite the setbacks, the #63 Mountain Wolf Lamborghini finished P12 overall and P9 in the PRO class, a strong result in a highly competitive 59-car grid.

Looking Ahead

This strong opening performance sets a solid foundation for the rest of the season. The next chapter begins with the Sprint Cup round at Brands Hatch (3–4 May), where Luca Engstler and Jordan Pepper will take the wheel once again.

The hunt continues. 🐺

Mirko Bortolotti (ITA) / Luca Engstler (GER) / Jordan Pepper (RSA)
#63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2
PRO CUP
Qualifying: P3 – Race: P12

“Pleased with Qualifying and first part of the race but after that the race kept slipping away from us. P12 was not the result we came for. We will draw the right conclusions and some learnings will prove crucial for the remainder of the season.”

Mirko Bortolotti

“All in all, it was a frustrating weekend. After a strong qualifying session with third place, we were unfortunately unable to maintain our position in the race. That’s disappointing, of course, but at the same time it’s also an incentive. It gives us an extra boost of motivation to continue working hard together as a team and to tweak everything. The season is still young and we still have enough time to fully attack again.”

Luca Engstler

“The weekend was full of Mixed emotions, after a great effort in qualifying we were able to display our speed and performance by qualifying P3. Heading into the race however we didn’t have the same fortune, unfortunately it seemed that we struggled a lot more in the colder conditions compared to our rivals, and after a intense battle out on track, showing great speed at some moments in the race, we unfortunately didn’t quite have the pace to fight up front and finished off just outside the points. Not the result we hoped for, but a championship is made up of many races and we still have a great chance and good tracks ahead of us to make it count. Next stop is Brands hatch for the sprint championship where we hope to rebound in a good way.“

Jordan Pepper

“It was a very mixed weekend. We showed good speed in practice and qualifying but didn’t have the best strategy in the race. Now we have to analyse why there was such a big difference in performance between the old and new tyres. We still have a lot to learn.“

Gottfried Grasser, Team Principal of GRT

Photos: © Gruppe C Photograph SRO Motorsports Group

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