JLOC Delays EVO2 Upgrade For No. 87 Lamborghini

JLOC is set to go into the new SUPER GT season with its two Lamborghini Huracan GT3 contenders in different configurations amid delays to its plans to upgrade its No. 87 car to EVO2 specification.

The team had introduced the latest version of the Huracan in the middle of the 2023 season, with No. 88 drivers Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima giving the EVO2 its series debut in Round 4 at Fuji Speedway and winning the final race of the season.

Initially, its plan was to upgrade the No. 87 machine shared by Kosuke Matsuura and Natsu Sakaguchi to the latest specification later in the year, but concerns about Balance of Performance convinced JLOC to delay the upgrade until the off-season.

The car shared by Matsuura and Sakaguchi however participated in both of last month’s official pre-season tests still in EVO spec, and is now set to go into next weekend’s opening round at Okayama International Circuit without being upgraded.

JLOC boss Isao Noritake revealed that while the EVO2 switch remains on the cards, delays on the Lamborghini side means the month-long gap between May’s second round at Fuji and the following race at Suzuka would be the earliest opportunity.

“I think we won’t make it for Okayama and Fuji,” Noritake told Sportscar365. “It could be difficult [to perform the upgrade] until May.

“The departure of Giorgio Sanna has had a big impact, and it’s a difficult situation for the suppliers. I was personally doing business with him and we had a long history.”

The BoP for the opening race at Okayama has both specs of the Huracan GT3 listed, with the EVO car set to run at 1347 kg and the EVO2 version at 1358 kg.

JLOC’s EVO2 car has been consistently the quicker of the two Lamborghinis in official testing, with Kogure setting the best time overall in the GT300 class in the Okayama test and Motojima going third-fastest at Fuji.