We have reached the halfway point of Lamborghini Squadra Corse’s new adventure in the world of endurance racing, with the SC63 LMDh having just completed its first 24h of Le Mans.
The challenge is divided between the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA SportsCar Championship with the Ligier chassis prototype, which runs individually in both series.
On the Circuit de la Sarthe the Bull brand brought the two examples in the HYPERCAR Class for the first time, as if it were a sort of appetizer to what we will see next year since the regulations will oblige all manufacturers in the category to enter at least two cars.
From here began the chat that the President of Automobili Lamborghini, Stephan Winkelmann, and Rouven Mohr, Technical Manager of the Emilian brand, held with the journalists present in France, taking stock of the situation regarding current events and the future.
Marco Panieri, Mayor of Imola, with Stephan Winkelmann, President Lamborghini
Photo by: Marco Panieri
“The reason why we entered the world of Hypercars and LMDhs is that it reflected our strategy, as well as the fact that WEC and IMSA together would give us visibility on a global level, combined with a follow-up process involving the R&D department with the races endurance. And at the time the budget to be made available was predictable, but it is clear that now things are changing. Everything will be more expensive for us”, underlined the President.
“We will work hard and have the second car in the WEC starting next year, after we had planned to have two only at Le Mans and Daytona. In other championships the maximum is two, here we have competitors who make three, four or even more cars It would be a difficult competition even in the future of racing for a small manufacturer like Lamborghini.”
Mohr added that for now there are no decisions regarding whether or not to continue in IMSA, but it is clear that every step will have to be taken without it turning out to be more than you can chew, as they say.
“The SC63 program is currently three years long. The WEC calendar has just been confirmed by the Endurance Commission and is now official. We were already planning something, but we don’t have a complete overall picture yet and at the moment it’s a bit too much soon to talk about the IMSA 2025 program.”
“We need to see what is realistic because it is clear that we would like to do more, but it also makes no sense to spend our resources, which are not as many as those of other manufacturers, on too many programs. In the end we risk losing concentration and also progress along the way.”
“But fielding two SC63s in the WEC could have repercussions on IMSA. In the next few weeks we will decide within our Board of Directors how to plan the 2025 season. At the moment we need to sort out some things, also regarding the evolution of the car” .
Rouven Mohr, Lamborghini Squadra Corse Chief Technical Officer
Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo
The SC63 debuted in Qatar in March and in the WEC it has already raced at Imola, Spa-Francorchamps (the only retirement of the year at the moment) and Le Mans, while in IMSA after the debut at Sebring, Watkins Glen is expected next weekend.
Although the car put on the track by Iron Lynx is single, the path of growth and improvement has already started, and so we must move forward, making a virtue of necessity.
“This has been a year of learning from the beginning, but if we look at the performance it is clear that there is growth. We already have ideas for developments, but we are not going to upset everything by building another SC63”, points out Mohr .
“We would really like to have a second car, but in the current state it wouldn’t make much sense and today we are not in a personnel situation that can afford it.”
“Sending the car to the USA is not a problem, but we need someone to take care of it and it involves aspects of logistics and support, a team behind it and members of Squadra Corse, the right race engineers, those who analyze the data, spare parts and so on. It’s an operation that requires being at the right level.”
#63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63: Mirko Bortolotti, Daniil Kvyat, Edoardo Mortara
Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo
At the moment the fact of having a single SC63 on both sides of the globe is bearing fruit, even if a doubling is evident which would allow us to speed up learning and development.
“At this moment of the season, given that we only have one car on the grid, progress and development is certainly slower, because we have less data and also fewer opportunities to collect it during a race weekend, without being able to diversify strategies and set-ups “, explains Mohr.
“From this point of view, if I speak as an engineer, I like the two-car rule in the WEC. But I also have to say that from a budget and team point of view, taking care of the second car is really an additional effort for a company of a small size like ours, which doesn’t have hundreds of people involved in motorsport, it is certainly a challenge. It would be wrong to say that it isn’t like that, but we like challenges and for this reason too we will find a series of ways to face them.”
A challenge that will now see two SC63s in the FIA WEC from 2025, following a three-year project as expected, although it will be necessary to work on modifications to improve using the 5 development tokens allowed.
“We are looking into the topics further, once we have a clear technical picture we will discuss with the FIA, ACO and IMSA how many exemptions we need and how many optimization phases. At the moment we have understood the optimization potential and are working on a specific technical solution. The next step will be to discuss the size of the evo package and when it will be introduced.”
“As regards the transmission and the engine we don’t have any major problems, we are very satisfied with the aerodynamics. We are looking more at the mechanical grip side and the optimization will go more in this direction and in weight reduction. But we are satisfied with the speed of development”.
“And the fact that it was decided to extend the homologation until 2029 is good for all the manufacturers who have planned with a certain certainty. We have always said that this is not a short-term program, we have a clear strategy behind the our commitment, so it’s positive.”
#19 Lamborghini Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63: Romain Grosjean, Andrea Caldarelli, Matteo Cairoli
Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo
One of the aspects that most differentiates the LMDh program from the LMH one is the wider possibility of finding customer teams to buy and field the car, something that Porsche has already started immediately.
From this point of view, Winkelmann did not rule out that it could happen tomorrow with the SC63 too, but the road is still long.
“There might be an opportunity to take a step forward, but that’s something we need to look at with other partners. It’s something that others are already doing, we haven’t so far, but it might be an opportunity that would help us do more testing.”
“We are evaluating different opportunities and options and will do our best. This is something we need to discuss in depth with Iron Lynx.”
#85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2: Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey
Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo
Finally, there was also talk of the arrival of the new GT3 which will replace the current Huracan from 2026. The reference road model will be presented in the summer and from there we will begin to plan the test program that the racing car will have to carry out in 2025 .
“The GT3 version will arrive in 2026, while the Super Trofeo will debut in 2027. We will present the car next year, it will have a new name and as always it will be a Toro ready to fight!”, said Winkelmann.
Mohr echoed this: “For us, the basis of the races remains the single-make and GT3. We are highly competitive and, clearly, we want to continue, so the direction is well defined. I can say that, unlike the LMDh which has an entirely his, Super Trofeo and GT3 will have the road one with all the most sophisticated elements”.
“However, it won’t be hybrid like the production model on which it’s based, so it will have to be modified, then we’ll see if the high revs make sense or not. We have to find the best compromise between driveability and efficiency.”
To conclude, the German said that the search for a figure who can support him, taking the place of the resigning Giorgio Sanna, is in the final stages of evaluation.
“We have heard from some people, we are in the final selection phase and we hope to be able to close very soon. At the moment nothing has been decided yet, but we are close to the finish line. Our wish would be to close within the next few weeks or at the latest by two months”.
#WEC #Lamborghini #future #shape #overdoing