Since the Super Trofeo series started in 2009, Lamborghini has become more involved in motorsports. In 2019, it will race in the top class of endurance races. Along with the hybrid LMDh car, which will have a twin-turbo V-8 engine and an electric motor, the next generation of hybrid supercars for the road are being made. Lamborghini has also used racing to improve how its cars handle. This has helped the company grow and solidify its reputation for making cars that are ready to race. On the first day of the 2023 Daytona 24 Hours, 61 race vehicles, including five Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2s, took the green flag and sped out. During the competition, which lasted all day, six factory Lamborghini drivers took turns driving, with help from the company’s Squadra Corse motorsport staff. Lamborghini’s main goal was only sometimes to win races. When Ferruccio Lamborghini started the company that bears his name in 1963, he only made road cars. He promised to make the best sports cars for the road because, at the time, he thought Ferraris were just rough and unrefined race cars with fancy paint jobs. Enzo Ferrari only made road cars to help him with his racing, so that’s where Ferrari’s history began. On the other hand, Lamborghini switched to the open road to improve on-road driving and interior quality. In the decades that followed, Lamborghini tried racing on and off. In the early 1990s, they tried but failed to make engines for Formula 1, and the Diablo and Murciélago were occasionally used in GT races. On the other hand, Lamborghini has been racing since 2009, when it started the one-make Super Trofeo series. The company will enter the top level of endurance running the following year with an LMDh prototype designed to win both Daytona and Le Mans. During a media roundtable at this year’s 24 Hours of Daytona, we talked with CEO Stephan Winkelmann and chief technical officer Rouven Mohr about Lamborghini’s growing involvement in motorsports and how it helps the company’s brand. Plug-In Hybrid When asked about the change to prototype endurance racing, Winkelmann said, ” We think things are different now. The fact that [LDMh] is a hybrid fits with our philosophy and is the best way for us to look at things. The Aventador will be replaced by Lamborghini’s first plug-in hybrid, which will be shown to the public later this year. Mohr is adamant that “we are not going down with the ship,” so the V-12 engine will stay in the next supercar. Soon, we should see a plug-in replacement for the Huracán and an electric Urus. With a twin-turbo V-8 and an electric motor, the LMDh race car will compete in the 2024 World Endurance Championship (WEC) and IMSA SportsCar Championship. Even though the LMDh configuration was made for racing, Lamborghinis that are driven on public roads will eventually benefit from what we learn from how the hybrid race car works. Mohr said, “But right now, it’s the other way around.” We are not starting from scratch with the LMDh because we know a lot about managing energy for street cars.” No matter what the current state of technology is, the fact that Lamborghini is making strides toward electrification and simultaneously releasing the LMDh demonstrates that the firm is committed to making the switch to hybrid powertrains. Racing has been important for improving the suspension and handling of supercars that can be driven on public roads and for making new technologies. Mohr says racing is the best place to practice handling and behavior if you want to improve your car. He also said that the company’s research and development (R&D) department and its motorsports business, Squadra Corse, worked closely together, with employees moving back and forth between the two. The Huracán STO, a GT3 race car that can be driven on the road and has wings and fins growing out of its chiseled carbon-fiber bodywork, is one example of a street car that is more focused on the track because of this influence. The following hybrids will make more track variations, but Winkelmann wouldn’t say precisely how many.
