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[h=2]Mann podiums on IMSA debut[/h] Monday, 08 May 2017


By Marshall Pruett / Images by Jamey Price/Lamborghini

Above: Pippa Mann, left, and Jackie Heinricher

Pippa Mann was a welcome addition to IMSA's Lamborghini Super Trofeo series last weekend at Circuit of The Americas. The five-time Indy 500 starter, who'll start preparing for her sixth next week with Dale Coyne Racing, is known in open-wheel circles and leapt at the chance to branch out with sports cars that was presented by Jackie Heinricher in the Prestige Performance Lamborghini Huracán LP620-2.

Making their series debut with a doubleheader at the tricky Texas road course, Mann and Heinricher closed the event with a third-place finish in the Pro-Am class and will have more races – spanning California to New York – to gain experience in the 620hp V10-powered bulls.

"I wanted to try and get into a sports car for quite a while," Mann told RACER. "Unfortunately, with the driver rankings I'm ranked a gold; I'm a gold with zero sports car experience and no laps!"
The chance to rediscover the joys of road racing is an added benefit for Mann, whose 15 IndyCar starts have come on ovals.
"I haven't road raced pretty much since Indy Lights in 2010 other than a one-off GT race in 2012," she said. "It's been hard to find sports car opportunities, but I am so grateful to have this chance to learn this year."

New to the series, car and track, Mann was given a limited amount of time in the No. 57 entry prior to the first race on Friday. As the Pro driver to Heinricher's Am, Mann knew she would need to learn on the fly as the emphasis was placed on her teammate's learning process behind the wheel.
"I knew it was going to be very challenging coming into this weekend because I've really had minimal laps in the car, full stop," she said. "And I've obviously never been to this track before either. But I'm not sure I knew quite how challenging it would be until I got here and I did my first six or seven laps in the car and they said, 'Okay, get out, it's time to fit your co-driver.' I said, 'Pardon?' They said, 'Yep, out. That's it for your morning test. And then you get back in the afternoon and you'll do another seven more and then you get out again.' So I think I had a total of 14 laps going into qualifying."
Compared to the 30 hours of available practice time she'll have next week at Indianapolis in her Honda-powered IndyCar, the Pro-Am culture shock took some time to process at COTA.
"You look at the schedule and you know they are short sessions, but when you get here and you realize how long the lap is, you realize how few laps you get," she said. "So it's been a combination of trying to learn as quickly as possible and to help Jackie however I can from what I learn of this weekend. It's been a process."
By Saturday, Mann was beginning to enjoy the Huracán baptism with Heinricher.
"It is rewarding to feel like you're starting to get better and starting to get the hang of it in your first race weekend at such a difficult track," she said. "So much more to learn, still so much to do, but I'm happy to be here and I'm grateful to have this chance. And I'm with such a great group of people with Wayne Taylor Racing, Prestige Performance and Lamborghini Paramus, that is the huge thing. And I have to say I wouldn't be here without my co-driver.
"I'm so grateful to Jackie for deciding that she wanted to do the Pro-Am this year and for deciding that what she'd really like to do was use that to see if she could help out a female driver who is trying to find her way into sports car racing. So I'm super grateful to her for that connection, that outreach, and she deserves a lot of credit for getting me out here, getting me into a car and allowing me to share her car with her."
If all goes well throughout the Lamborghini Super Trofeo season, Mann hopes to create a regular space for herself in the IMSA paddock.
"I think the first step for me is to keep learning and keep improving myself to get up to the point where I am racing competitively in the series and I am the Pro that Jackie deserves, given that she has brought me into the series with her," said Mann, who intends to continue racing at the Indy 500 for many years to come.
"And then I think everybody in the U.S. who wants to race sports cars wants to be in the big IMSA [WeatherTech Championship] series at some point in the future. And this is the best possible place for me to be able to get that experience with a great team and learn about sharing a car and learn about driver changes and learn about trying to learn tracks with very few laps. And learn about a GT car and everything that is so different to me. Taking it one day at a time, one step at a time, but I'm happy to be here."