Performance Tech Expands into Super Trofeo With Watzinger

Performance Tech Motorsports will expand into Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America competition this year with a Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo for Gerhard Watzinger.

Watzinger serves as the chairman of the board for CrowdStrike, a leading cybersecurity company that also sees its co-founder and CEO George Kurtz race professionally.

“I drove this car the first time 2020 at the Dubai 24hrs and just fell in love with it,” Watzinger said.

“Then we won the 24 Hours of Dubai in January of 2021 and also finished in second place in the 6 hours of Abu Dhabi in 2021, both in the Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO.

“That was crucial experience with tire wear and how the car handles with different fuel weights.

“For me, it was also important to get more GT car experience. Up until then, I had only driven prototypes and open cockpit cars with lots of downforce, which GT cars don’t have.”

Performance Tech Motorsports has spent the past decade supporting primarily prototypes in the public eye, however, behind the scenes team principal Brent O’Neill and his crew had dozens of GT cars in their care as well.

O’Neill said he’s excited to once more introduce a GT car under the Performance Tech’s banner.

“GT racing is at the heart of every program so it’s great to welcome it back to the forefront of ours,” O’Neill said. “Gerhard has a lot of experience over the years, but he wants to hone his GT car skills so we’re going to spend most of 2021 fine-tuning that at a few local events.

“I have no doubt he’ll get up to speed quickly especially because this is a great car that he loves to drive.”

The debut event for Watzinger and his Huracan Super Trofeo Evo is yet to be determined.

Racing started as a spectator hobby for Watzinger that later erupted into an addictive passion.

Though he took to the track later in life he has spent the past few years checking a handful of the most well-known prototypes off his driving to-do list.

“I started following racing when I was 16 years old and have spent a lot of time at the racetrack as a spectator, Watzinger said.

“I started racing relatively late in life and was hooked on it right away. My first racing series was in the Radical SR3, then the SR8. Since then, I have driven LMP3s, the Wolf Prototype, and my all-time favorite the Elan DP-02.

“For me, this year is really about learning the race craft for GT cars. It’s a big transition when you come from driving prototypes for so many years. Really, it’s a completely different driving style.”