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Photo: Lamborghini
Lamborghini is seeking customers to run its SC63 LMDh car for 2026 campaigns, having confirmed that it only plans to operate as a full factory team for this year’s IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup season.
The Italian manufacturer, which is using the long-distance WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races for extensive development on the Ligier-chassied prototype, is hopeful of remaining on the grid next year, but with customers should it make the car competitive with its planned rollout of Evo jokers this year.
“This year we decided to run the car under our umbrella, under Squadra Corse,” explained Lamborghini’s chief technical officer Rouven Mohr.
“It’s mainly related to the fact that we say, ‘OK, we want to have the full control on the further development of the car.
“Last year we were seeing some potential and if we have the full control we can better manage the performance development.
“It’s not our ambition to be in the future a racing team because this is not our focus.
“Our focus is that we develop a car, we make the car competitive, then we for sure, the operations on the team is done by a team, like we do in GT3.
“The general philosophy will not change. It’s a special change [this year] based on the fact that the car is complex and we need to jump in, in person.”
When asked by Sportscar365 if Lamborghini is seeking a new team to the level of Iron Lynx, which it recently parted ways with, Mohr acknowledged it was a “special kind” of a partnership with the Italian squad.
Sportscar365 understands that Iron Lynx contributed financially to help get the project off the ground.
“If we close the performance gap and the car, from a pure performance point of view that we can give it to customer teams, for sure we’re open to new teams operating our car with our support,” said Mohr.
“But I would not say that it’s then another replacement in the Iron Lynx situation. This I would not say. It’s more of that we have a customer team that’s operating our cars.
“During the year if we see that Riley is also interested next year to operate the cars in IMSA for instance, why not?
“At the moment we’re excluding nothing. But it’s a little bit too early because it’s the first race and we just started the partnership some weeks ago.”
Mohr said he’s confident there are prospective LMDh customers in the marketplace, with Lamborghini having been approached by “some requests” last year.
“I think the market is much smaller,” he said. “It’s not like in GT3 where you have more requests than you can build cars.
“This is not but there is a market.
“The question is how big is this market and in the long-term perspective if it can reach a limit or level that’s close to the sponsors, media value and so on, if you can have a package together with a team, that you can find a balance that’s [achievable].
“At the moment, I think it’s too early. Even if you look at all the other manufacturers, I think the time will show this.
“I strongly believe this is one of the success factors. If there is this beautiful growth of manufacturers, if this is continuing, because most manufacturers are looking for something like this (customer cars).
“In the beginning you have to spend money in the program but there also has to be a point where there is at least a stabilization on a certain level. The level is for sure different compared to the manufacturers.
“Yes, I’m optimistic to find a team or teams.”
A potential hurdle, however, exists if a customer would want to run the car in the WEC, as the world championship now mandates two factory cars per Hypercar manufacturer, a rule that led to Lamborghini’s exit from the series this year.
Mohr, however, wouldn’t rule out a works-supported program should the opportunity arise.
“For sure it depends on the package,” he said. “It’s not like the standard support with the team with a race engineer and some technicians. The effort is much higher.
“If the car will be competitive and if the car be operated on the performance level that’s sufficient for a team, and we only have to support in a way like a standard case, then for sure, we’re open. It’s clear.”
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