Lamborghini pauses LMDh programme with SC63 in IMSA

Lamborghini will not race its SC63 LMDh prototype next season after announcing that it is putting its GTP class attack on the IMSA SportsCar Championship on hold. 

The Italian manufacturer is billing its decision against continuing its IMSA campaign, which encompasses the endurance rounds with a solo car run by Riley Motorsports, as a “pause” resulting from a “strategic realignment of its motorsport activities”. 

Lamborghini ended its involvement in the World Endurance Championship Hypercar class with the SC63 ahead of this season and has played down any prospect of a return, which means it is certain that its LMDh will not race next year. 

Lamborghini hinted that it could be the end of its participation with the LMDh. 

It stated it will now focus on its programmes with the new Temerario GT3 launched in July ahead of a 2026 release to customers and a Super Trofeo one-make version of the car due to come on stream in ’27. 

The use of the term pause echoes the Volkswagen-owned car maker’s rhetoric late last year when it announced that it would not be continuing with the SC63 in WEC. 

It opted instead to focus on North America with an attack on the five-round IMSA Endurance Cup.  

After the end of its partnership with the Italian Iron Lynx team, which straddled one-car assaults on the full WEC and four of the IMSA enduros in ’24, Lamborghini was forced to fully fund this year’s campaign and signed up Riley as a service provider. 

It made no secret of the fact that it needed another partner to come in for ’26 if the programme was to continue. 

Lamborghini chief technology officer Rouven Mohr said on the launch of the Temerario racer at the Goodwood Festival of Speed that “time is ticking” on its aspirations to continue in GTP. 

“We are still looking for opportunities to have a team that is interested because at the moment we are operating the car on our own, for sure with the support of Riley, but in the end we are leading the programme and paying for the programme,” explained Mohr. 

“It’s clear for us we have to find some financial balancing.”

Of a return to the WEC, he added: “We would like to, but it’s even more expensive [than IMSA] because you are forced to have two cars, you have more overseas races, more mileage overall – and mileage is running costs.”

Lamborghini referenced the change in rules for this year’s WEC that demanded manufacturers must field two cars in Hypercar in Monday’s statement on its IMSA participation. 

#63 Automobili Lamborghini Squadra Corse Lamborghini SC63: Mirko Bortolotti, Romain Grosjean, Daniil Kvyat, Edoardo Mortara

Photo by: Andreas Beil

“The conditions on which the programme was based have significantly changed,” it stated. “As the project developed, resource demands — both in terms of budget and technical complexity — have grown beyond original projections.”

The new regulation was a key factor Lamborghini’s withdrawal from Hypercar, the company pointing out that it is a small company in comparison to its rivals running LMDh and Le Mans Hypercar machinery.

Mohr admitted at Goodwood that Lamborghini had “perhaps underestimated” the costs involved in developing an LMDh, which it undertook in conjunction with Ligier Automotive. 

The best results for the SC63 have been a pair of sevenths in IMSA at the Sebring 12 Hours last year and the Watkins Glen 6 Hours this year, as well as a 10th-place finish at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2024.

It has been confirmed that the Riley-run SC63 entered under the Automobili Lamborghini Squadra Corse banner will complete its 2025 programme at the final two IMSA enduros, the Indianapolis 6 Hours and Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in September and October respectively. 

Lamborghini also stressed its long-term commitment to motorsport, describing it as “an integral part of its brand DNA”, and stated that it “will continue to evaluate future racing opportunities”.