Iron Lynx will officially step into its brand-new era this weekend in the Qatari desert at Lusail International Circuit. While the location won’t be new for the team – the FIA World Endurance Championship Prologue is back in Lusail for the second time – the car and driver lineup will bring a breath of fresh air, mixing great returns and new additions.
Not far from the tall buildings and sandy beaches of Doha, with relatively cool temperatures, the state-of-the-art Lusail circuit will be home to a memorable debut. The brand-new Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 racecars will be competing in FIA WEC for the first time and will do so under the Iron Lynx banner, marking the manufacturer’s return to the World Endurance stage after more than 25 years.
The #60 car will feature the same lineup of the 2024 Bahrain finale. Matteo Cairoli will be joining Iron Lynx stalwarts Claudio Schiavoni and Matteo Cressoni, starting their fifth FIA WEC season together.
The #61 car will welcome an all-new trio. FIA WEC legend Christian Ried, is returning to the series where he competed in every season to date. He is joined by the youngest driver in the championship, 18-year-old Lin Hodenius, and Mercedes-AMG Performance Driver Maxime Martin.
While the 5.4-kilometer Grand Prix Circuit has high-quality standards, its layout featuring many medium and fast corners will make for a challenging management in terms of fast-paced traffic situations. However, it will provide an ideal proving ground ahead of the opener.
The Prologue test features four sessions for a total of 14 hours of running, starting today at 13:00 local time. The opening round of the year, the Qatar 1812KM, will be held next Friday.
Andrea Piccini – Team Principal & CEO, Iron Lynx: “It feels great to be back racing in FIA WEC with this new project and to see all the preparations finally coming together. The goal for 2025 is not easy to set. I feel that the Mercedes can fit very well with the WEC concept and be competitive pretty soon. I’m curious to see all our drivers behind the wheel of our brand-new AMG LMGT3 cars in Qatar. Let’s see where we are in the Prologue, I can’t wait!”