Lamborghinis return to British GT

Reigning British GT champion Barwell Motorsport will field two factory-backed Lamborghini Huracan GT3s in the championship next season, alongside a full European sports car campaign.

Barwell has inked a deal to take delivery of three of the new 5.2-litre V10-engine machines from Lamborghini Squadra Corse, the Italian marque's in-house competition department. The deal covers 2016-'18. Two cars will be run in British GT under the Barwell Motorsport supported by Squadra Corse banner, and it marks the first appearance of Lamboghinis in British GT since 2013. A third chassis destined to compete in the Blancpain Endurance Series and European Le Mans Series. Barwell has partnered with MP Motorsport to finance the deal.

The move ends Barwell's three-year association with BMW. The team has taken multiple race wins and lifted both the British GT teams' and drivers' titles last season, running the Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 of drivers' champion Marco Attard and BMW works driver Alexander Sims. The pair are vying for this year's championship ahead of the series finale at Donington Park next weekend.

"We are delighted to announce our plans with the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 from 2016 onwards," Barwell Motorsport head Mark Lemmer said. "To have secured a three-year deal with factory support from such an iconic brand, with its rich sports car heritage is exactly what we need going forward. The plan is to run two cars in British GT and one in Europe."

The Huracan is the first GT3 effort to be built in-house by Lamborghini, which revived its Squadra Corse motorsports division to celebrate its 50th anniversary two years ago. Independent marque specialist Reiter Engineering built its previous GT3 efforts.

Lemmer added: "The Huracan is a great looking car with very good aero data and it shares a lot of its powertrain components with the Audi R8, so it has proven underpinnings. It has been designed to be low-drag and have a strong top speed, which means it should have a great blend for the longer European circuits.

"We evaluated the GT3 market for a replacement for the Z4 GT3, which is at the end of its life cycle. It became clear that Lamborghini wanted to work with us as they have identified Britain as a key market and anted the current champion team to represent its cars."

Drivers for the new project have yet to be announced, but Lemmer said talks for both current team partners – Ecurie Ecosse and Team Russia – to continue are well underway.

Originally on Autosport.com