‘Ticking off Le Mans’ – Grove father-son duo gear up for ultimate challenge

Quintuple Bathurst 12 Hours class-winners Stephen and his son Brenton Grove are gearing up for their Le Mans 24 Hours debut with Iron Lynx.

The father-son duo are taking on the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time with Iron Lynx and Mercedes-AMG, on 14-15 June.

They spearheaded the Grove Racing banner in Australia, competing in Supercars and GT World Challenge Australia. Now, they bring that Bathurst pedigree to one of sportscar racing’s ultimate challenges: the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Next month, the Circuit de la Sarthe will host the 93rd edition of the world’s oldest endurance race.

The Stuttgart manufacturer is returning to the race since 1999, albeit in the LMGT3 category with Iron Lynx as part of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign.

So the Grove family duo will compete at Le Mans in Iron Lynx’s third #63 Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 with works driver Luca Stolz completing the line-up.

Mercedes-AMG entered the FIA WEC this year and remains the only manufacturer, unlike their eight rival LMGT3 makes, to lack a season’s worth of experience with the torque sensors.

Moreover, Iron Lynx’s new direction with LMGT3 came after their split with Lamborghini at the end of last year.

WEC debut: A late call-up, a big step

The Grove father-son duo debuted in the championship at the recent third WEC round, the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

Stephen opened up exclusively during their WEC debut and the upcoming Le Mans endeavour with Motorsport Week.

“It’s fantastic,” he said, “for us, it was always the preparation for Le Mans.

“This (WEC Spa) opportunity came up late.

“I was in Australia on [the previous] Sunday, and then we decided to come, so there wasn’t a lot of time [to prepare].

“But we did as much simulator work and data downloading as we could.

“It’s a fantastic first WEC round for me. The setup’s great, it’s run well [on the car].”

Spa-Francorchamps threw an incident-ridden second free practice session, including an unfortunate impact with the tyre barrier for Stephen at the top of Eau Rouge-Radillion, which heavily damaged his Mercedes-AMG.

However, after FP3 and qualifying, Stephen was unfazed, in high spirits and excitement.

“The car’s good and there’s a bit to learn with the torque sensors, et cetera, but it’s more about the regulations and the rules, the processes, and what you should and shouldn’t be doing.

“That took a while to learn, because every series is different.

“… You can pass before the start line in every other series, but here you can’t. So, just learning the nuances and differences in this series.”

The Le Mans dream: A Grove family mission in the making

“We’ve raced together for a long time now, but Le Mans was probably the only race we really wanted to do together.

“We’ve done Bathurst 13 times, the Dubai 24 Hours many times, Abu Dhabi 12 Hours… We’ve raced in South Africa together, pretty much everywhere.

“So the only place we hadn’t raced together was Le Mans, and it’s pretty hard to get into.

“To go there as father and son is going to be something special.

“And yeah, the window is closing on how much longer we can race together.

“I’m trying to stay competitive as I get older, and he’s young and building a career within our family business, so there’s a real balance.

“But yeah, if we can tick off Le Mans, then we’ve pretty much ticked everything off.”

The exhilaration of Bathurst

Mount Panorama in Bathurst, Australia, is one of the most iconic racing venues in motorsport, renowned for its challenging nature.

The iconic Bathurst 1000 from the Supercars championship and the 12 Hours of Bathurst events are amongst the most prolific endurance racing events.

“It’s super, super fast,” Stephen described the circuit.

“The first few years, we did it (the 12-hour race) in a Porsche Cup car, and then moved into a GT3.

“We’ve won it five times in class, which is a lot. But it’s very knife-edge, especially across the top [of the hill] – there’s just no room for error.

“A bit like Eau Rouge, you’ve got to get back to the inside curb, or else you’re in trouble.

“So Bathurst is very much like that.

“I’ve never raced at the Nordschleife, but I would imagine Bathurst would be up there as one of the hardest tracks in the world.”

Getting to grips with Goodyear tyres

SRO utilise tyre compounds from their partnership with Pirelli for such key races as the 24 Hours of Spa, whereas the ACO has worked with Goodyear for their LMGT3 machinery.

Goodyear rubber on LMGT3 machinery has been a unique adaptation, arguably the most challenging for Stephen.

“That’s been the hardest thing,” he admitted.

“Qualifying was the first time I drove on a new set.

“I’d done six laps before, but they were on two really old tyres. So that was the first time I drove them new.

“They came up [to temperature] quickly, I was quite surprised.

“After about half a lap, you could start pushing – the first lap was more of a build-up lap, and then you could really go for it.

“I get that we don’t run tyre warmers, but I still like them.

“When we’ve done Spa [24 Hours] before, you could just go out of the pits and push straight away.

“So there’s quite an art, especially during the race, to go out and push.”

Iron Lynx and AMG: Building momentum ahead of Le Mans

Iron Lynx’s trajectory of progression is distinct from the other eight LMGT3 teams/manufacturers.

This is due to their newfound introduction to the Mercedes-AMG package, which in itself is new to the WEC.

Furthermore, Iron Lynx’s results so far reflect that with a DNF and a non-classification in Qatar, but a double-race finish in Imola, followed again by a double-finish in positions 11th and 12th at Spa.

Spa marked the first time Iron Lynx finished ahead of any of their LMGT3 competitors, showcasing a promising upward trajectory ahead of the greatest hurdle they will face – Le Mans.

Le Mans not only tests performance over an extended period, but far more, including driver fatigue and vehicle reliability.

Despite the prowess of 21 Hypercars turning up the heat at La Sarthe, LMGT3 hosts the most entries at 24 cars.

Three of the 24 runners will be of Iron Lynx’s Mercedes-AMGs, which enhances hope for Stuttgart’s finest for their return to Le Mans in 26 years.

For Stephen and Brenton Grove, Le Mans is the final frontier – the one they’ve long dreamed of conquering together.

With their WEC debut now behind them and momentum building at Iron Lynx, the Grove duo aren’t just showing up at Le Mans – they’re aiming to make it count.

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