The Lamborghini Temerario GT3 has just made its racing debut... but it conceals a historic first for the brand

The first Lamborghini 100 % developed in-house makes its racing debut this weekend at the 12 Hours of Sebring.

A new chapter opens for the Bull in competition. This weekend, Lamborghini is entering its first Temerario GT3 at the 12 Hours of Sebring, one of North America's classic endurance races.

One example will be entered this Saturday in Florida. It will be driven by three of the brand's factory drivers: Italy's Andrea Caldarelli, Great Britain's Sandy Mitchell and France's Franck Perera. Operation will be entrusted to the Canadian team Pfaff Motorsport, Lamborghini's usual partner in the IMSA championship.

V8 rather than V10

The arrival of the Temerario GT3 obviously reflects the evolution of the road-going range. The aluminum structure is carried over, while the body is made of carbon-fiber panels.

The Huracan's iconic, sonorous V10 gives way to a supercharged 4-liter V8. The hybrid system of the Temerario The two turbos were replaced by more compact units. Their high temperature called for aerodynamic modifications, with increased cooling requirements. The front and rear blocks have been redesigned to facilitate express replacement during races.

Internalized

The Temerario GT3 is also the first racing car to be designed entirely in-house by the Temerario department.
in-house competition. Launched in 2015, the Huracán GT3 shared its engine with the Audi R8 GT3. It was also the fruit of a collaboration with Dallara for its aerodynamics. The chassis of the recent Lamborghini SC63 was based on a Ligier skeleton.

«A few months ago, Rouven Mohr, Lamborghini's Director of Technology, explained: »The car operates in a slightly different performance range to its predecessor, particularly with regard to the balance responsible for balancing very different cars. We're convinced it will be competitive in terms of lap times.»

Rouven Mohr has since been appointed Audi's Technical Director.

Already 2,400 km to Sebring

Last summer, the car completed its first laps on the Vallelunga circuit in Italy. Since then, the program has accumulated over 15,000 kilometers of driving experience.

In particular, the racing department organized an initial familiarization session for customer teams at the Misano circuit in Italy. Customer mechanics were able to explore wiring harnesses and start-up procedures, while engineers worked on aerodynamic maps.

«When a race car has a solid base, you can feel it immediately,» explained Marco Mapelli, one of the drivers in charge of the set-up, recently. From the very first tests, the Temerario GT3 showed strong reliability and a very clear sensitivity to setup changes."

«One of the key objectives,» continued the driver, "was ease of driving. The Huracán GT3 was extremely competitive, but not always easy at the limit. With the Temerario, we focused on accessibility, especially for gentlemen drivers."

With its fearsome bumps, the Sebring track in Florida is considered one of the toughest on cars. Lamborghini's competition department has already tested its car in these extreme conditions, covering 2,400 kilometers in a private test session.

That's more than the expected race distance on Saturday. The brand claims to have encountered «no major problems». Promising.

The United States is by far the most important market for the Sant'Agata Bolognese-based manufacturer. This justifies Lamborghini's focus on IMSA. However, business conditions are currently difficult for the Italian company, with the establishment of
customs by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

A successful debut for the Temerario in the juicy competition-customer niche would undoubtedly help Lamborghini's business model on this continent. In its ten-year career, over 450 Huracán competition models had been produced in GT3 and Super Trofeo configurations. No mean feat for a niche manufacturer like Lamborghini.

A race like no other for tires

At Lamborghini, Temerario drivers and engineers will also have to familiarize themselves with Michelin tires.

The Clermont-Ferrand-based manufacturer is the official supplier to IMSA for the next ten seasons. In January at Daytona, Bibendum launched its Pilot Sport Pro GT H1+ range of advanced tires for the GTD and GTD Pro categories of the North American championship.

The team will therefore have to work on the behavior of its new car with this fitting. Temperatures, consistency and degradation will be closely monitored and fed into the simulation models.

Note that GT3 homologated cars, like the new Temerario, will run on Pirelli tyres in competitions organized by SRO (such as the GT World Challenge). Lamborghini will not be present this year in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), where LMGT3s are fitted with Goodyear tires.

At the same time, Bibendum supplies the GTP premier class (the equivalent of our Hypercars), where Lamborghini raced until last year with its SC63. The 2026 tire range thus makes its second competitive appearance after the 24 Hours of Daytona in January. And Sebring is a very special circuit:

«Between bumps, asphalt and concrete, grip is constantly changing,» says Matthieu Bonardel, Michelin Motorsport Director. This instability becomes a test in itself. It's going to be a test to see how the tire adapts to these particular conditions."