Lamborghini Targeting Temerario GT3 Win This Year

Lamborghini is targeting a race victory with its new-for-2026 Temerario GT3 before the end of the season even though it has conceded that its chances of retaining its CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa crown this weekend are slim.

New Lamborghini motorsport boss Andrea Reggiani explained that the first season of the Temerario was always going to be “a year of improvement.”

He pointed out that not only is the car new, but that it is the first to be developed in-house by its Squadra Corse motorsport department.

That contrasts with the outgoing Huracan GT3, development of which was undertaken in parallel with the second-generation Audi R8 LMS GT3.

The EVO2 version of the Huracan gave Lamborghini a maiden 24H Spa victory last year with the GRT entry shared by Mirko Bortolotti, Luca Engstler and Jordan Pepper.

“This is a year where we would start in one pace and then move up,” said Reggiani of the maiden season for the Temerario.

“That is why we decided to introduce the car only in a few championships with teams that we trust and teams that we knew would help us extract performance from the car.”

Lamborghini is represented at the 24H Spa by the Grasser Racing Team and Rutronik Racing: both squads are contesting the Endurance Cup leg of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS with one car, while Rutronik is also racing in the Sprint Cup events.

“The progress week after week and race after race has been clear and in particular I am very pleased with the reliability of the car,” Reggiani added.

“Here we have a difficult task to defend our title, but absolutely I hope there will be a victory or more before the end of the season.”

Lamborghini’s best results with the Temerario in the GTWC Europe have been a seventh place for Rutronik at the Monza Endurance Cup round at the end of May and a Gold Cup class podium in the short-format at Brands Hatch at the beginning of the same month for Vincenzo Sospiri Racing.

There have also been second-place finishes for Pfaff Motorsports in GTD Pro in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the ABT team in the DTM.

Marco Mapelli had crossed the line first in the opening DTM race at the Lausitzring after being one of the few cars to start on slicks on wet track but was subsequently demoted to second following a penalty for speeding during a full-course yellow.

Rutronik team principal Klaus Graf believes that the best chance of a win for the Temerario this year could come in the Sprint Cup.

“We’re aiming to be competitive in Endurance before the end of the season, but the Sprint could offer the best chance of a victory,” he told Sportscar365.

“Qualifying is so important for a one-hour race, so if you have a good quali that puts you in contention.

“Then, it’s all about good pit stops, because they are competitive pit stops [unlike Endurance where a minimum time is specified] and we like to think we are very good at pit stops.

“But I know it is going to be difficult to win a race because this is our learning year.

“P7 at Monza was good and we are making progress step by step.”

Neither Lamborghini made it through the first round of Superpole qualifying for the 24H Spa on Friday.

Bortolotti ended up 18th on the grid in the GRT car, while Patric Niederhauser was slowest of the 32 cars to progress from Thursday qualifying, but will start 28th after four cars lost their times from the four Superpole mini-sessions.