Lamborghini Targeting Huracan GTD for 2015

Lamborghini’s new soon-to-be announced GT3 car could be competing in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship as early as next year.

Speaking to Sportscar365 last weekend at Virginia International Raceway, Lamborghini chief test driver Giorgio Sanna revealed that they’ve already received customer inquiries for a GT Daytona version of its new Huracan GT3 car.

“As everybody knows, the [GTD] regulations are converting to GT3 in 2016 and we’re really happy about this as a manufacturer,” Sanna told Sportscar365. “We have some requests about GT Daytona for next year. So it could be possible you’ll see some Huracans in GTD.”

The Huracan GT3, which is expected to be formally announced in the coming weeks, will be the Italian manufacturer’s first all in-house GT3 car, to be built by Dallara and developed by Squadra Corse.

Sanna said any potential TUDOR Championship program would be strictly customer-based but would come with the full support of the manufacturer.

With the development of the soon-to-be FIA GT3-homologated car still ongoing, a mid-season debut in North America seems the most likely option at this stage.

“Daytona is too early because we’re not able to produce the cars in time to be ready,” he said. “Next year, if we’ll see some cars in the TUDOR Championship, it would probably be in the second part of the season, or after the long endurance races.

“If it will happen, it would also be a good chance for us to start to get experience in this series.”

The Italian manufacturer and Squadra Corse already have close links to IMSA, which sanctions the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo North America series, now in its second season.

The emerging single-make championship will see the launch of the Huracan LP 620-2 Super Trofeo (pictured above) in 2015, which was recently made its worldwide debut during the Monterey Car Week.

“Of course we are enthusiastic and excited about the introduction of the Huracan,” Sanna said. “The first feedback from the drivers and teams worldwide is really positive.

“We expect to have more cars next year and to open a new era for Lamborghini motorsport activities.

“The Huracan is a completely new project, a new platform with a completely new philosophy behind it. The car, compared to the Gallardo Super Trofeo, is more like a pure race car.”

Featuring a direct-injected 620 horsepower V10 engine, the Huracan Super Trofeo is rear-wheel driven and is outfitted with a number of GT-style components, such as a Xtrac sequential gearbox and Motec engine management system.

“We have introduced a lot of technical features that gives the car a high level of performance,” Sanna said. “For us, the new Super Trofeo is to be a [small] downgrade from GT3. It’s to support the gentlemen and pro drivers to get experience in a car that’s not so far from a GT3, even in terms of performance.

“I truly believe the new Huracan Super Trofeo will be the reference in the next few years.”

Sanna has targeted to have a minimum of 25 cars on the grid in the North American championship next year, which will remain open to the current Gallardo Super Trofeo, but running in a separate cup.

There are also plans to expand the driver classifications to include a category for professionals, alongside the existing Pro-Am and Am divisions.

The Huracan will also play a significant part in the European and Asian Super Trofeo series as well.

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