Sebring race debut for Temerario GT3 just one step in a hectic development phase for Lamborghini

The big week for Lamborghini Squadra Corse’s GT3 program has arrived, with Pfaff Motorsport set to give the Temerario GT3 its global race debut as part of IMSA’s GTD Pro field on Saturday at Sebring.

Andrea Caldarelli, Sandy Mitchell and Franck Perera are sharing driving duties for the Canadian partner team, which is highly motivated to both show off the capabilities of its new machine and fight for its first class win on the famous Floridan airfield since 2023. But what should we expect from the Temerario at this early stage? Priority number one for Lamborghini is to showcase the car’s durability with a finish. The secondary target is to secure a head-turning result. Neither ambition is a surprise.

Rouven Mohr, Lamborghini’s (outgoing, Audi-bound) technical director and interim motorsport boss, brings confidence into the event after a successful developmental phase for the Temerario GT3, which should stand the Italian brand in good stead for the car’s wider rollout over the next two years.

“This is the first car developed standalone by Lamborghini. We had no basis from a sister car (like the Huracan GT3 did with the Audi R8); we developed it from a white sheet,” Mohr tells RACER of the Temerario GT3’s inception. “But it’s given us motivation, because we started with the car as a baby. It’s grown through testing, and I cross my fingers because all the tests started on the right foot.

“The drivers have been happy, and we have had no major issues. For instance, in the (paused SC63) LMDh, from the first test, it was clear that the rear suspension needed improvement. With this car, no big issues; we’ve sorted out all the small things.

“Of course, we could end up having an issue at the first corner in the car’s first race, because racing is different to testing! But so far it’s all smooth, and we’re on track.”

The public debut of the Temerario GT3 came during the IMSA test at Daytona last November, but has continued apace elsewhere. Brandon Badraoui/Lumen via Getty Images

In testing, the Temerario GT3 has exceeded internal mileage targets, with 9,300 miles of running at key circuits across Europe and the USA, including its public-facing appearance at the IMSA Sanctioned Test back in November.

Lamborghini hasn’t developed the car out of sight from its customers. By design, it has been inviting key teams to participate in some of its recent tests.

“In the past, we involved one team in the early phase of testing,” Mohr explains. “We didn’t want to do that because we wanted to increase our knowledge and develop everything in-house with several drivers, including gentleman drivers. We invited teams to get in touch with the car. Now we’ll do shared sessions for fine-tuning, we’ll hand over the cars, and the season will start.”

Lamborghini aims to have 25-30 cars racing by the end of this year. In addition to Pfaff, a number of teams have already been confirmed as early recipients of the Temerario, including Grasser Racing, ABT, Rutronik and VSR.

“It’s not easy for us to say to someone, ‘Unfortunately, you cannot get one this year,' or, 'You’ll get one later this year,’” Mohr admits when asked about the selection process. “But we had a clear strategy, and we have selected our strategic partner teams in a way that they came first, then, step by step, we will satisfy the other requests. This year, for sure not; most likely, also not next year.

“Will we be able to satisfy all the requests? The list is huge, from teams and private owners who want a car. We made a prioritization based on performance figures, how long the partnership is and what revenue we can generate, not because we like team A or B.”

The twin-turbo V8-powered Temerario is the first GT3 car designed and constructed completely in-house by Lamborghini. Brandon Badraoui/Lumen via Getty

Getting the car homologated in time for Daytona back in January was, in theory, possible, but Lamborghini felt it needed more time to fine-tune the car and didn’t want to debut it at a 24-hour race. You could argue that the Sebring 12 Hours, despite being half as long, is just as, if not more, punishing for the cars due to the nature of the circuit and the higher likelihood of severe heat trackside. But with the 12 Hours being such an important event for Lamborghini as a brand, and it being held in March, Mohr and his team decided that this weekend’s enduro was a more sensible option.

“We could have had a car on the grid (at Daytona), but that wasn’t the target,” Mohr says. “We didn’t want to debut with a 24-hour race. It’s not based on delays; we decided to start this with Sebring, and then in Europe, things get underway in April, so we are on the right track.

“We have been dealing with the car since the second quarter of last year. It’s continuous teamwork, and we are super realistic. We wanted to use every opportunity to gain information and learn more about the car (before homologation).

“The U.S. market is our biggest single market and we have a long-term relationship with IMSA. Daytona and Sebring are important for our customers and us. It wasn’t an option to postpone the U.S. debut longer. If we could have the ideal racetrack, we could choose another racetrack, though, as Sebring is one of the biggest challenges for a car.”

The Temerario GT3 program isn’t the only hot-button topic within Squadra Corse’s castle walls, as the Temerario Super Trofeo, which will race on IMSA’s support bill, is also being developed in parallel ahead of its 2027 debut. While Lamborghini has yet to share a mileage target for the twin-turbo V8-powered single-make racer in testing, the breadth of its GT3 test program may provide some hints.

“The theoretical part is finished,” Mohr explains, “We are now at the assembly phase. We are assembling the first car, and the testing will most likely start in May.

“The timing is quite close to the GT3, but one year later. This time, the Super Trofeo shares even more components with the GT3, so we are not starting from zero.”

Meeting expected demand for the new car will pose a challenge for Lamborghini's production capabilities.

The scope and scale of the task is huge, as the plan is for all of Lamborghini’s single-make regional championships (Europe, Asia and North America) to switch over to the new platform at the same time. A contingency plan has had to be put in place, though, as the Temerario road car and GT3 car are soaking up a huge proportion of Lamborghini’s production capacity.

“Our target is to switch all at once, but this is still to be confirmed,” Mohr explained. “If we are not able to, then the next step would be to decide which championships will move to Temerario. But we are trying to stay at least within the championship, clean, we don’t want to race with two cars in the same championship. That would be the worst-case scenario and something we are trying to avoid.”

For now, though, the primary focus is nailing the first steps in the shift in era from the Huracán to the Temerario. Getting it right will require full buy-in for Squadra Corse’s staff, and a lot of early starts and late finishes.

“It’s a challenge for a small organization like ours,” Mohr concedes. “It’s clear that it’s in our interest to switch as fast as possible. Technical support and spare parts for Huracán customers have to stay, but the pure performance support from Lamborghini, we only have a few people, and we cannot run in parallel forever.”