WEC Support Rounds Provide “Good Synergy” for Lamborghini

Lamborghini Super Trofeo’s support of four FIA World Endurance Championship rounds next year provides “good synergy” across the manufacturer’s racing programs according to its head of motorsport.

The single-make series for Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2s will race on the WEC undercard at Imola, Spa-Francorchamps, Circuit of The Americas and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Previously, Super Trofeo Europe mainly supported Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, but will only join two of the SRO Motorsports Group-run series’ events in 2024 and will not visit the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

Lamborghini Squadra Corse director Giorgio Sanna explained that while he was eager to maintain Super Trofeo’s relationship with SRO, the chance to bring all three of the brand’s dedicated racing products to the same events was a significant draw.

Those four WEC weekends will see Lamborghini’s GT3 and LMDh cars racing in the world championship, with the Super Trofeos supporting.

“We started many years ago with Stephane [Ratel, SRO founder and CEO] and we have a very good relationship and partnership with him,” Sanna told Sportscar365.

“We love the platform of SRO, but the company and motorsport department are evolving. We are targeting the Hypercar class and we are always looking to offer something new to our teams.

“The opportunity to go to Le Mans and do a couple more races with WEC is a very good opportunity for the European teams [to race at an ACO-organized event]. Like how we have partnered with IMSA since the beginning, which we are very proud of.

“We like to work with the best promoters to offer the best to our customers.

“We look as much as we can to have, in some key events, the entire platform of Lamborghini Squadra Corse competing on the same weekend.

“This is a very good synergy from our partners and dealers, joining the entire racing offer from the company.”

Evolving the Super Trofeo calendar forms part of Sanna’s push to continue the growth of Lamborghini Squadra Corse, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year.

The Super Trofeo series started in 2009 with around 15 Gallardo racers developed by Reiter Engineering but became the foundation of a new, in-house racing division in 2013.

The 10th edition of the Lamborghini World Finals held at Vallelunga in November attracted more than 90 Super Trofeo cars.

However, Sanna described the first decade of Squadra Corse as “just the beginning” as it seeks to follow the progress of the road car department, which posted record sales in the first half of this year.

“I know perfectly from where we started and all the energy, the passion, the work needed to arrive here,” he said.

“Honestly speaking, what is nice for us is that we started basically from a white paper, and we are [now] writing a nice book. This is thanks to the company, the support of the board, and the people who have worked, are working and will work for Squadra Corse.

“We are really a team. Very young, but with the right talent and competence. At the end of the day, I don’t feel that this tenth anniversary or the 100 cars on the grid is an arrival [point].

“We are just at the beginning, really, because 10 years is a short time even if it has been intensive. We have a clear idea of where we are going and what we have to do.”

Lamborghini is committed to GT racing through 2030 at least, covering the rollout of its next new GT3 car that will be based on the Huracan successor model.

“LMDh is the next very important chapter, but we are also working on the next generation of GT cars,” said Sanna.

“We have a long-term commitment to motorsport. This is giving us the right confidence to work properly, improve ourselves, our products and our services for our loyal customers.”

Sanna identified a “combination of factors” when asked how Lamborghini Squadra Corse managed to grow from a single-make manufacturer to one with three different racing platforms in the space of 10 years.

“The family feeling that all our customers and partners have with us, is something that you can feel very easily,” noted the former test and racing driver.

“And the product, of course. Because we have a performance-cost ratio that is very competitive in Super Trofeo and in GT3.

“From my side personally, I try to organize the programs and manage our race programs starting from Super Trofeo until LMDh, with the vision, passion and eyes of the drivers and team managers. In my opinion, it is fundamental to speak the same language.”

Lamborghini’s road car sellers are closely linked to the brand’s racing activities and feature heavily in Super Trofeo, which awards a dealers’ trophy at the end of each season.

“This is part of the physiological growth of the company,” added Sanna.

“Lamborghini was not born 60 years ago with motorsport as priority number one, or with motorsport in its DNA. But like in humans, the DNA can evolve, and we are evolving.

“We are creating the right culture for motorsport inside the company. This is the mission we have: create this kind of culture inside the company first.

“And then, outside, offering the best cars and service that we can provide to our teams.”