Lamborghini Targeting Sebring Debut for Temerario GT3

Photo: Lamborghini

Lamborghini is targeting to give the new Temerario GT3 its race debut in next year’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, ahead of a phased rollout in selected GT3-eligible championships.

Unveiled on Friday at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the four-liter twin-turbo V8-powered race car, which had its first shakedown in June, has so far completed six days of on-track testing, totaling 1,100 kms (683 miles).

While the Italian manufacturer has stated its goal of making the second round of the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, Lamborghini’s head of motorsport Maurizio Leschiutta said “we have to see what the maturity of the car is” before making a definitive decision.

Lamborghini chief technical officer Rouven Mohr added: “If you ask me today, I fully support Maurizio because at the moment we’re still in the middle of the development phase, so it’s a little bit too early.

“If you ask me what would be my ambition, Sebring, because Daytona is simply unrealistic. Therefore the next opportunity is Sebring.

“At the moment we’re working to get there, but it can also if we see it’s not on point, we are not doing it.”

Leschiutta confirmed the car will debut in the hands of its customer teams, rather than a full factory outfit, which it has utilized for this season’s IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup effort with its SC63 LMDh car.

“Our modus operandi will not change,” added Mohr. “We only have a factory team in LMDh… but we did it in LMDh because we had no choice, to be honest.

“It’s not something we would do if we had a choice. We have good teams at the moment; we are quite happy and I’m pretty sure in the U.S. and Europe we have kind of pillar teams and this for sure together with them we will make the operations.”

Leschiutta said both the Temerario and Huracan GT3s will be eligible in the WeatherTech Championship next year in what will be a transition season for Lamborghini, which will continue to support its V10-powered GT3 car that first debuted in 2015 and is in its second Evo.

“IMSA has acknowledged that they will allow both cars to race next year,” he said. “They have different homologations and they’ll have different BoPs.”

He said it’s the “most likely reasonable scenario” to see the Temerario GT3 in the hands of its GTD Pro partner team and have Huracan GT3s continue to compete in GTD next year, when asked by Sportscar365.

However, Leschiutta cautioned: “What we don’t want to do is beta testing with our customers.”

Pfaff Motorsports is currently Lamborghini’s sole GTD Pro entrant in the WeatherTech Championship.

Leschiutta added the car could make its public on-track debut in November’s IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway.

Mohr, meanwhile, said the Temerario GT3’s exact 2026 race program is still being defined but doesn’t expect any more than ten cars to be produced in the first year.

“We have to decide carefully which championship,” he said. “To be realistic, the next season, if everything went well, we will have ten cars available.

“The main production line is sharing with the production car, and this is for sure priority one because at the moment we have a lot of orders for the Temerario. And it’s clear we have to check when we can produce which batch.

“More than ten [next] year, this is already the maximum number even I don’t think we will get this, so you can imagine how many cars at the moment we would need for the seasons worldwide.

“We have to decide, first of all, which are our priorities series because next year will also be a little of a testing year. The first year in competition with the car, you learn a lot. You can test all you want but competition is competition.

“Next year, for us, it’s more learning the car, bringing the car in the performance window, and this we will for sure with selected teams where we have a good collaboration and partnership.

“This will be decided based on the development growth. Maurizio will also decide which teams get the allocation.

“For sure, it’s clear there will be a mixture.”

When asked if it’s a priority to see the Temerario GT3 in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Mohr replied: “The biggest priority for me is winning races. Then for sure, I’m a businessman, and I want to sell cars.”

He added: “Specific to LMGT3, for sure, the company would like to. But at the moment it’s not possible because at the moment we don’t have a LMDh car [in WEC].

“For sure we could ask for a waiver, but this year the waiver was going to Mercedes.

“If you ask me that I want, yes, I want. If you ask me at the moment if we can, we can’t.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John