Lamborghini has finally confirmed an LMDh program and will field a car developed by its Squadra Corse outfit, to debut in 2024. It will mark a debut for the VW Group-owned company in the top class of either the WEC or IMSA, and is the first factory effort for well over a decade.
“This step up into the highest echelon of sports car racing marks an important milestone for our company,” stated Stephan Winkelmann, Lamborghini chairman and CEO. “We will be measuring ourselves against the very best, on the most demanding proving grounds. On one hand, this will give our successful motorsports program even more visibility, but it will also allow us to test future technologies: our LMDh prototypes will become our most sophisticated open laboratory on four wheels.”
The LMDh program will run in addition to Squadra Corse’s GT efforts, consisting of Super Trofeo and GT3, which will remain the core of its customer motorsport operation. Lamborghini head of Motorsport Giorgio Sanna commented, “I am absolutely delighted that Lamborghini will be taking the next step in our motorsport journey, the step into LMDh and the top level of sports car racing. LMDh will play a special role in Lamborghini’s Motorsports strategy, giving us the unique opportunity to expand our customer racing activities to new platforms and enforce our long-term partnership with customer teams and drivers.”
Porsche and Audi (though the latter’s LMDh project is either on hold or canceled) will use a Multimatic-supplied chassis as the basis for their LMDh racers. The logical choice would be for Lamborghini to also use this platform, however, rumors abound that the Sant’Agata outfit will instead opt for a Ligier chassis. A strange choice if proved correct given the potential for cost savings of sharing car underpinnings across VW Group’s motorsport operations.
