Lamborghini Huracan GT3 to make North American GT3 racing debut in 2016

Lamborghini Huracán GT3

Huracán GT3 Customer Teams to represent Lamborghini Squadra Corse in first 24 hours of Daytona appearance Sant'Agata Bolognese, 21 September 2015. The Lamborghini Huracán GT3 will make its North American GT3 racing debut with confirmed entries into the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona (GTD) class in 2016.

The official debut will be in the 24 Hours at Daytona on Jan. 30-31 with multiple customer teams, continuing Lamborghini Squadra Corse's tradition of customer support. There will be no factory entries, but all customer-racing teams will have factory support.

Lamborghini's move into GTD comes as the class adopts the 2016 FIA GT3 specifications for all of its entries.

"We are only focused and committed to customer racing," Automobili Lamborghini Head of Motorsport Giorgio Sanna said. "For us, GT3 is the pinnacle of our strategy. We are excited to make this next step in North America as our motorsport program competes for the first time in Lamborghini history in the 24 Hours at Daytona and in multiple full-season GTD efforts."

The 585-horsepower Huracán GT3 was born from a desire to offer factory-built and supported cars to customers worldwide. It is the first GT3 car to be fully engineered, developed and assembled internally by Automobili Lamborghini.

The move to GT3 racing in North America is the exciting next step as the Lamborghini Motorsport program continues to build its racing ladder. The GT3 program is the top step of an impressive pyramid, which includes Lamborghini Esperienza and Accademia and three Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo series worldwide.

There are direct connections between two of the confirmed GT3 entries and Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo North America, which is in its third season. Change Racing and O'Gara Motorsports both will add Lamborghini Huracán GT3 programs in addition to their existing Super Trofeo North America efforts in 2016. In addition Konrad Motorsport, a powerful Super Trofeo Europe team, has confirmed participation in the 24 Hours at Daytona with the Huracán GT3.

Change Racing has been in the fold since the North American series inception in 2013. Change Racing is a past team champion and has fielded the driver champion two years in a row, in addition to winning the 2014 Pro-Am Super Trofeo World Finals.

"I'm very proud to have the opportunity to grow our relationship with Lamborghini and compliment our Super Trofeo program with a GTD effort for 2016," Change Racing Team Principal Robby Benton said. "We've been fortunate enough to build a resume and footprint in the North American Super Trofeo Series and this is a logical next step for us. Lamborghini Squadra Corse has a very talented group supporting its customer-racing program. I have a lot of confidence in Lamborghini Squadra Corse and its vision for 2016."

O'Gara Motorsport team owner Tom O'Gara has been involved with the Super Trofeo series in North American since 2013, but this is the first year for the team as a solo entrant. The team leads the championship in the team and Pro and Amateur driver categories.

"We are very excited that O'Gara Motorsport will be participating in the inaugural season of the Lamborghini GT3 program in North America," O'Gara Motorsport Team Owner Tom O'Gara said. "We've won several races this season and have led the championship since the first race of our inaugural season of competition as a team. I'm confident that our GTD team next year will continue to showcase their hard work and commitment to achieving the winning tradition that we expect in our organization. We are also happy to create an opportunity for drivers to advance their careers after achieving success in our Super Trofeo program. Our team and I are looking forward to this next challenge."

Konrad Motorsport fields a three-car effort in Super Trofeo Europe this season. This will be a return appearance to the 24 Hours at Daytona for the team, which is no stranger to endurance racing, but the first with Lamborghini.

"I'm very happy to be back at Daytona with such a famous brand as Lamborghini," Konrad Motorsport Team Owner Franz Konrad said. "We do have a strong relation with Lamborghini that started back in 1991. We know Daytona well. We have raced there 16 times including the last three years. We also managed to win our classes and we are confident we can keep up our positive streak. Here in Europe we race in Super Trofeo and we are very happy with the product. The natural choice was to move on to GT3 racing. We will line up a car with the possibility of adding a second one."

The Huracán GT3 will be eligible for all GT3 racing in North America.

The Lamborghini Huracán GT3 will be introduced in both North America and Asia, after having already proven itself in Europe this season running in the Blancpain Endurance Series with Grasser Racing Team, where it has won the season opener at Monza (Italy) in April.

[Source : LAMBORGHINI]