For the first time since 2016 the 2021 Michelin Le Mans Cup GT3 class saw the championship winning driver not racing for the championship winning team.
In 2016, the first season of the championship, the team title was won by TF Sport, while the winning drivers were Aleksey Basov and Viktor Shaitar.
For the 2021 season a regulation was introduced to give fast bronze drivers a time penalty and Iron Lynx decided to swap their drivers around in the no8 Ferrari 488 GT3 to enable the Italian team to retain their team title and, with it, the invitation to the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The no8 Iron Lynx featured no less than five different drivers during the season – Paolo Ruberti, Rino Mastronardi, Logan Sargeant, Gabriele Lancieri and Rory Penttinen. Between them they scored five wins and two second place finishes from the seven races held this season.
By contrast the no2 Pzoberer Zürichsee by TFT Porsche 911 saw Nicolas Leutwiler joined by Julien Andlauer for six of the seven races, with Wolf Henzler standing in for Andlauer at Le Castellet. The Franco/Swiss partnership netted two wins, two seconds and one third place finish, with one DNF in the first Road to Le Mans race after starting from pole position. Wolf Henzler also helped Niki Leutwiler to another podium finish at Le Castellet.
At the end of the season the no8 Iron Lynx Ferrari had scored 148 points to 107 for the no2 Pzoberer Zürichsee by TFT Porsche for the Michelin Le Mans Cup Team title.
In the driver’s title race, Niki Leutwiler finished the season on 107 points, with victory in Round 1 at Barcelona and in the second Road to Le Mans race, with Paolo Ruberti finishing 10 points behind on 97 points from the four races the Italian had competed in (3 x 1st, 1 x 2nd).
Julien Andlauer finished the season on 92 points in third place in the overall standings due to the fact he had missed the race at Le Castellet. Gabriele Lancieri finished 4th overall with 78 points, gathering the maximum 26 points (victory and pole position) in each of the three races he competed in.
CLICK HERE for the final standings in the 2021 Michelin Le Mans Cup
