Jem Hepworth and Lindsay Brewer made an excellent start to their debut season in Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, as the RAFA Racing Team's all female duo stood on the Am class podium at Sebring International Raceway in their first weekend in the series.
Jem Hepworth and Lindsay Brewer made an excellent start to their debut season in Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America by standing on the Am class podium at Sebring International Raceway. Driving for RAFA Racing Team, both Hepworth and Brewer excelled despite limited experience of both the car and circuit.
Recovering from a qualifying setback in race one, the pair charged their way from 33rd on the overall grid, tenth in class, to finish 20th overall, sixth in class. After an excellent second qualifying session from Hepworth to start fifth in class, the British driver regularly set the pace the Am class pace during her first stint. A strong end to the race saw Brewer bring the car home in 13th overall, third in the Am class, securing a maiden podium for the duo.
Joining the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America grid provided a fresh challenge for both Hepworth and Brewer whose motorsport resumes are diverse. For Hepworth, remaining with RAFA Racing Team was a natural step with the British driver having most recently competed for Rafael Martinez’s squad in the GT4 European Series.
In 2024, Hepworth partnered Cameron Lawrence in a McLaren Artura GT4 with the pair securing a best result of fourth in class at Spa-Francorchamps. Moving into single-make competition, Hepworth was used to sharing a car with a teammate, however the characteristics of the Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo machine were vastly different to that of the GT4 specification McLaren Artura.
For American racer Brewer, she had spent the past two seasons racing on the American open wheel ladder. Last year, Brewer competed for Juncos Hollinger Racing in the Indy NXT Series where she achieved two top-15 results. Her most recent closed cockpit experience came in 2021 in the TC America Series where she finished three races inside the top-10 driving a Honda Civic Type-R TC.
For both Hepworth and Brewer, their immediate goal was to challenge towards the front of the competitive Am class, which for 2025 featured the most entries of any sub-division within Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America.
On-track action for the RAFA Racing Team duo began on Wednesday with two free practice sessions. It was an encouraging start as Brewer and Hepworth immediately challenged at the front of the Am class, ending session one in sixth position despite limited laps due to a number of red flag interruptions. In the second session, the all-female duo completed 18 laps and were again sixth fastest to complete a productive first day of running at Sebring.
Qualifying took place on Thursday with Brewer behind the wheel for the first session. With over 35 cars on track, traffic management was a challenge and the RAFA Racing Team driver was searching for clean track. A red flag ended the session prematurely and with Brewer having not set a representative lap time, she would start race one from tenth in the Am class.
Hepworth drove in the second session and was immediately lapping among the Am class frontrunners. Despite the second qualifying session also concluding early due to a red flag, Hepworth’s fastest time of a 2:04.026 was the quickest lap the duo had set throughout the event. This resulted in a fifth place starting spot within the Am class, while Hepworth narrowly missed out on a top-15 overall position.
Race 1
Race one of the weekend was held late on Thursday afternoon with Brewer and Hepworth targeting a strong recovery drive after Lindsay’s challenging qualifying session. Starting the race from 33rd overall, 10th in the Am class, Brewer made a good start and gained three positions on lap one as she cleared a number of the LB Cup drivers.
Brewer was now running directly behind Am class rival Christopher Tasca and she overtook the Forty7 Motorsports racer on lap three. The RAFA Racing Team driver also passed Ray Shahi and after Mateo Siderman retired with a technical issue, Linsday was up to 27th overall, eighth in class. Her progress was then halted by a full course yellow period which was required following an incident between Adrian Kunzle and Clay Wilson.
On the restart on lap eight, Brewer overtook Paul Nemschoff into turn one and with the pit window also now also open, she could make further progress. The RAFA Racing Team crew initially decided to leave Lindsay out on track and this was a smart move as Brewer set consecutive personal best laps. Running as high as 13th overall, third in the Am class during the pit cycle, Brewer brought her car to the attention of the crew on lap 10.
Hepworth got behind the wheel at the pit stop and once the pit cycle was completed, she ran in 27th position overall, ninth in the Am class. The British driver was quickly on the move and passed four cars in the space of two laps, including overtakes on class rivals Dean Neuls and Sam Shi. By the end of lap 14, Hepworth was up to 23rd overall, seventh in class, and now had a small window of clean air in which to push into.
A series of personal best times followed and Hepworth was consistently among the fastest drivers within class. This saw her catch a group of drivers ahead with a spin for Sebastian Carazo on lap 18 elevating Jem to 21st overall, sixth in class. Pro-Am racer Conrad Geis was now ahead and Hepworth applied significant pressure to the TR3 Racing driver.
On the penultimate lap, Hepworth overtook Geis and moved inside the overall top-20 while remaining sixth in the Am class. An exceptional last lap from Hepworth saw her narrowly miss out on top-5 position by less than a second as she took the checkered flag in 20th position overall, sixth in class. Hepworth’s final lap was the sixth fastest in the entire field and underlined the crew’s potential heading into the second race of the weekend.
Race 2
Following Hepworth’s strong qualifying effort, the RAFA Racing Team crew lined up 16th on the overall grid for race two, fifth in class. The race initially began under full course yellow conditions after the car of Dan Hodge had stopped out on track. When green flag racing began, Hepworth made a good start and gained a class position on the first lap. By lap four, Jem was showing excellent speed as she overtook David Staab for a spot on the Am class podium.
Hepworth was now into the overall top-15 and had set back-to-back fastest final sectors within class. This enabled her to open up a gap of over two seconds to Staab while she maintained a good margin to Glenn McGee and Jackson Lee who were battling for the Am class lead. As the pit window opened on lap nine, Hepworth was consistently the fastest driver in the Am class and therefore chose remain on track for long as possible.
As her rival made their mandatory stops, Hepworth ran as high as third overall while assuming the Am class lead. On lap 13, Hepworth pitted and handed the car over to Lindsay Brewer for her first laps of the day. Following the conclusion of the pit cycle, Brewer ran in 15th position overall while holding down the runner-up position in the Am class.
Brewer’s initial laps were strong and she was holding her position confidently. The race then entered a lengthy full course yellow period after Christopher Tasca impacted the barriers on the exit of turn two. Seven minutes remained when the race restarted and following a drive through penalty for Am class rival Garrett Adams behind, Brewer’s podium position was becoming more secure.
Although Staab found a way through on lap 19, Brewer was managing the race well and she still had a comfortable gap behind her to fourth placed driver Anthony Bullock. On the penultimate lap, a crash for Anthony McIntosh resulted in another full course yellow period and the race ended behind the safety car. As a result, Brewer took the checkered flag in 13th place overall, while securing a superb third in the Am class.
It was a positive debut weekend for Hepworth and Brewer who adapted superbly to the challenges of Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America. Both drivers displayed strong pace and mature racecraft which enabled them to move forward in both races and stand on the podium in their first ever event together.
Hepworth and Brewer will be aiming to return to the Am class rostrum when the series resumes at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on the weekend of 10th/11th May.
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