A First Win at Dubai for Bartholomew and Pull
Jack Bartholomew and James Pull converted a pole position into their first Lamborghini Super Trofeo victory at the Dubai Autodrome, winning Race 1 of the series’ second round in February 2018. Driving the #5 Huracán Super Trofeo for FFF Racing by ACM, the two young British drivers controlled the race from the opening corner, finishing tenths of a second ahead of American Taylor Proto.
The result matters beyond the podium because of Bartholomew’s status within the Lamborghini Young Drivers Program. This was not a fluke by a well-funded amateur but the first tangible reward for a structured development effort that Squadra Corse runs specifically to identify future factory-level talent. For a brand building out its motorsport ladder from one-make series through GT3 competition, every result at this level carries implications that reach well beyond a single weekend in the Gulf.
The overall podium told its own story about the depth of the field. Giacomo Altoé, just seventeen at the time, partnered Glauco Solieri in the Antonelli Motorsport entry to finish third overall and first in the Pro-Am category. Proto, who crossed over from the Super Trofeo North America series, also claimed the AM class win. Axcil Jefferies of Konrad Motorsport recorded the fastest lap of the race at 1’37″629, despite losing ground early after contact dropped his car from second to eleventh. Jefferies’ recovery drive, setting rapid laps through the field before handing over to co-driver Carrie Schreiner, underlined the competitive density of even a regional Super Trofeo round.
The Young Drivers Program as a Talent Pipeline
Lamborghini established the Young Drivers Program in 2014 with a blunt purpose: find promising drivers under 25, evaluate them across an entire Super Trofeo season, and promote the best into GT3 machinery with direct Squadra Corse support. The evaluation goes beyond lap times. According to one report, the program assesses attitude, physical fitness, mental resilience, and the quality of technical feedback a driver can provide to engineers.
Drivers who impress during the season earn an invitation to a dedicated track test organized by Squadra Corse. The standout performer from that shootout receives backing to race a Lamborghini GT3 car the following year. It is a deliberate funnel, and it works. Maximilian Paul and Mattia Michelotto, both products of the program’s pipeline, were promoted to full Lamborghini factory driver contracts for the 2026 season after building their credentials through exactly this kind of progression.
Bartholomew’s trajectory followed the same pattern. British-born and nineteen years old at the time of the Dubai victory, he went on to claim the 2018 UAE Championship title and finished as the 2018 Asia Vice Champion. He later signed with Bonaldi Motorsport for the 2019 European Lamborghini Super Trofeo Championship, stepping up to the most competitive regional tier of the series. That career arc, from a regional Middle East win to a European factory-supported seat in under two years, is precisely what the program is designed to produce.
The Huracán Super Trofeo as a Development Tool
The Huracán Super Trofeo occupies a specific role in Lamborghini’s motorsport architecture. It is not a lightly modified road car with a roll cage bolted in but a purpose-built, single-specification race car designed so driver skill determines results rather than engineering budgets. That distinction matters for the Young Drivers Program, because Squadra Corse coaches can isolate driver ability from equipment advantages when everyone runs identical hardware.
The car’s significance extends beyond the racing itself. The Huracán Super Trofeo served as the mechanical foundation for an entire ecosystem of customer racing. Teams like FFF Racing by ACM, Antonelli Motorsport, Konrad Motorsport, and GT3 Poland all competed with the same base car, building their own driver lineups and strategies around a platform Lamborghini controlled centrally. As Autoblog noted in a later feature, the Huracán Super Trofeo became so embedded in the motorsport landscape that examples occasionally surface on the collector market, prized for their racing pedigree and the naturally aspirated V10 that defined an era of Lamborghini competition.
Mark Proto’s Lamborghini Cup victory and Andrzej Lewandowski’s second place in AM at this same Dubai round illustrate the breadth of the customer base. From gentlemen drivers running in the Lamborghini Cup to young professionals in the Pro class, the series accommodated a range of ambitions within a single grid, yet the front of the field remained a genuine proving ground for the next generation of factory talent.
From Super Trofeo to GT3 and Beyond
Lamborghini’s motorsport strategy operates as a layered system. The Super Trofeo series, running regional championships in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East, feeds the GT3 Junior Program. Drivers who excel at that level become candidates for factory driver status, competing in global GT3 championships and contributing to the development of both racing and road cars.
The 2025 debut of the Temerario GT3 at Goodwood added another dimension to this pipeline. According to Autoblog, the Temerario GT3 is Lamborghini’s first competition car fully designed, developed, and built in-house, a significant departure from the previous arrangement where external partners handled much of the GT3 engineering. For drivers coming through the Young Drivers Program today, the destination at the top of the ladder looks different, and arguably more integrated with Sant’Agata, than it did when Bartholomew won at Dubai.
Ferrari, Porsche, and McLaren all operate their own one-make feeder series and use them to identify talent. Lamborghini’s advantage, if it holds, is the directness of the connection between Super Trofeo success and factory support. The program’s track record of promoting drivers like Paul and Michelotto to contracted factory roles suggests the pipeline is producing results, not just press material.
For anyone watching the Super Trofeo Middle East as a spectator or considering it as a competitor, the practical takeaway from Bartholomew’s Dubai win is straightforward: this series functions as a genuine proving ground with real career consequences. The AM and Lamborghini Cup classes welcome gentlemen drivers, but the front of the grid is where Squadra Corse scouts its future.
Gallery
