Sanna (Lamborghini): “We’ll Be Present in the Most Important Series”

Photo: Jamey Price/Lamborghini

Lamborghini makes a grand entrance into the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship this weekend, with five customer Huracán GT3s entered for the 54th Rolex 24 at Daytona in the car’s North American debut.

Sportscar365 caught up with Head of Lamborghini Motorsport Giorgio Sanna (pictured above, right) to discuss the brand’s arrival into top-level IMSA competition, customer car sales and what might be next for Lamborghini in sports car racing.

Did you imagine having such a large U.S. customer effort in the first year of the Huracán GT3 customer program?

“Honestly speaking, yes. In general we are achieving a big success with the Huracán GT3 worldwide. We have already sold 40 cars. That’s a very remarkable number. We’ll be present in the most important championships in the world.

“The U.S. is our first market. We are growing in the right way with the Super Trofeo series. I think also in America, some teams have understood that the Huracán is a competitive, reliable car with low running costs.”

Do you think a season’s worth of racing in the Blancpain Endurance Series racing helped sell the car?

“For sure our target last year was to develop the car and learn by ourselves the characteristics of the car during a real racing season.

“The results we had last season probably helped. But I’m also confident that the customers are looking to Lamborghini with interest because they like how we approach customer racing activities.”

How important is the Rolex 24 for Lamborghini?

“Daytona is one of the most strategic races for us. At the moment, we only have Super Trofeo and GT3, there’s only a few races where we can compete with maximum exposure.

“Out of the 24 hour races, Daytona is the first and the most important in America, but probably also in the world for the GT3 cars.”

How has Lamborghini and Squadra Corse grown to provide global customer support?

“We are growing up in terms of structure. We are growing up in terms of investment but also because we are achieving very positive results on the track and on the business side at the same time.

“In terms of strategy, we are focused to support the maximum level on the technical side for all the teams in the world. For sure it’s a big, big effort but it’s how we work every day.”

Can we expect additional Huracán GT3s in America?

“For sure we’re looking with interest to increase the number of cars. We have already sold 40 cars and I think for the first year, we’d prefer to focus to support the [existing] cars the right way.

“We are not so focused on the volumes but are focused to be present in the most important series.

“Of course we’re present in the IMSA paddock with Super Trofeo, so it’s quite normal that we have more teams in this series compared to Pirelli World Challenge.

“But if we receive proposals from customer teams interested to use the Huracán GT3 in World Challenge, absolutely we’ll look for interest to be there.”

Does IMSA’s new DPi platform interest Lamborghini?

“At the moment it’s not in our plan because we want to race with global cars. Unfortunately, the new rules on LMP2 are not this way.

“I like the [IMSA] technical rules a lot but unfortunately we are not in the position to do this kind of investment to just race in America.

“At the moment we’re looking for future opportunities that give us the chance to use one car in the most important series and not only one.”

Could there be a GTE version of the Huracán in the pipeline?

“There could be many things. For the next two years, at least, we’re focused only on Super Trofeo and GT3. We also have to remind ourselves that we are a really young motorsport department, born just three years ago.

“There’s a long way to go. Step by step, we’ve already demonstrated that we can grow up quickly.”

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