Three Wins, Three Series: The Huracán GT3 EVO2 Closes 2023 With a Statement Before the Temerario Era Begins

A Triple Crown Weekend for the Huracán GT3 EVO2

Within days of one another, three different teams put the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 on the top step of the podium in three different countries. Barwell Motorsport’s Sandy Mitchell and Shaun Balfe charged from 11th on the grid to win the British GT finale at Donington Park. Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Vincent Abril gave Iron Lynx its first Le Mans Cup victory at a rain-soaked Portimão. Marco Mapelli and Benjamin Hites converted pole position into a win at Hockenheim in the penultimate ADAC GT Masters race, keeping a title fight alive until the final event.

For a platform approaching the end of its competitive life, the naturally aspirated V10 race car picked a compelling moment to remind everyone what it can still do. These results matter not just as trophies but as proof of concept: the engineering that underpins the EVO2 still works across different formats, conditions, and circuits, and it sets a high bar for the Temerario GT3 that will eventually replace it.

Donington: From the Back of the GT3 Pack to the Top Step

The British GT result at Donington deserves closer examination because it was less about raw pace and more about tactical opportunism married to race craft. The #78 Huracán started 11th following a qualifying infringement, and Shaun Balfe lost further ground early on, dropping positions around an early safety car and a drive-through penalty. The car looked buried.

A second safety car period changed everything. It coincided precisely with the team’s mandatory pit stop, and by the time Sandy Mitchell climbed in, the #78 sat third. The leading Mercedes of Jules Gounon then ran wide at the final corner, promoting Mitchell to second. With 40 minutes remaining, Mitchell made a decisive move on McLaren driver Marcus Clutton at Donington’s Old Hairpin, a corner that rewards late braking and commitment in equal measure. He pulled away to win by just over nine seconds.

British GT grids comprise over 30 GT3, GTC, and GT4 specification supercars from manufacturers including Aston Martin, Porsche, McLaren, and Bentley. Winning from 11th against that depth of field, on a track where overtaking opportunities are limited, speaks to the EVO2’s balance in mixed conditions and the quality of Lamborghini’s factory driver program. Mitchell and Balfe’s Donington result was their second win of the season, capping a productive first campaign together as a pairing.

Le Mans Cup and ADAC GT Masters: Breakthroughs and Near-Misses

At Portimão, the Le Mans Cup season finale started under safety car due to heavy rain, the kind of conditions that punish mechanical fragility and reward driver confidence. Hamaguchi and Abril started from the front row in the #63 Iron Lynx Huracán and controlled the race through multiple safety car interventions and a red flag as conditions deteriorated further. Abril brought the car home with a margin of just over 12 seconds over the second-placed Aston Martin. For Iron Lynx, a team more commonly associated with Ferrari’s customer racing programs, this was a first Le Mans Cup victory with Lamborghini hardware. That a Ferrari-aligned operation chose to run the Huracán and won with it says something about the car’s competitiveness.

The ADAC GT Masters story carried more drama and more heartbreak. Hites qualified on pole at Hockenheim with a time of 1m38.489, built a strong lead in the opening stint, and handed over to Mapelli. A mistimed driver change dropped them into a fight with the Mercedes of Elias Seppanen. Mapelli prevailed after the Mercedes passed illegally and was corrected, keeping the title mathematically alive heading into the final race. Any chance of overturning the 10-point deficit evaporated at the start of race two, when the #63 was eliminated in a first-lap incident.

That outcome stings, but it also illustrates the fine margins in GT3 racing. The Huracán had the pace to fight for a championship. The car was not the limiting factor.

What the EVO2’s Late-Career Form Means for the Temerario GT3

The timing of these results matters because the Huracán GT3 EVO2 is living on borrowed time. The upcoming Temerario GT3 is slated to take over as Lamborghini’s factory-supported GT3 platform, and as Car and Driver reported, it marks a significant milestone: the first race car fully designed and developed in-house at Sant’Agata Bolognese. GT3 regulations require it to use a modified version of the road car’s twin-turbocharged V8, meaning Lamborghini’s GT3 program will trade the naturally aspirated V10 for forced induction, a philosophical shift as significant as any the brand has made on the road car side.

For customer teams currently running the EVO2, the transition raises practical questions. The V10’s linear power delivery and predictable throttle response are characteristics that amateur and professional drivers alike rely on in endurance formats. A twin-turbo V8 brings different torque characteristics and different heat management demands. Road & Track noted that while Lamborghini stuck with updated versions of the same basic Huracán for a decade, competitors like Porsche released multiple entirely new GT3 platforms in the same period. The Temerario represents Lamborghini finally answering that with a clean-sheet design.

The EVO2’s continued competitiveness in its final season is both a validation of the platform’s enduring engineering and a high bar for its successor to clear. Squadra Corse’s customer teams will be watching the Temerario’s early test results closely, because switching platforms mid-program is expensive and disruptive. The new car needs to be faster, not just newer.

Lamborghini’s Competitive Position in the GT3 Landscape

GT3 racing is the most commercially important category in global sports car competition because it directly connects manufacturer engineering to customer accessibility. Lamborghini competes against Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes-AMG, McLaren, Aston Martin, and BMW, all of whom field current-generation GT3 machinery. The Huracán GT3 EVO2’s naturally aspirated V10 stands apart from the turbocharged engines now favored by most of its rivals, giving it a distinctive power delivery that some teams consider an advantage in driver confidence, particularly in wet conditions like those at Portimão and Donington.

Lamborghini’s customer racing model relies on Squadra Corse providing factory-level technical support to independent teams like Barwell, Iron Lynx, and Grasser. The quality of that support structure often matters as much as the car itself. When a team like Iron Lynx, which runs Ferrari GT3 machinery in other series, wins with a Lamborghini, it signals that the package is competitive enough to attract and retain serious operations.

The practical takeaway is straightforward: the Huracán GT3 EVO2 remains a winning car in its twilight, and the engineering lessons from a decade of V10 competition will inform how Squadra Corse calibrates the Temerario GT3 for customer use. Whether the new car can match the old one’s versatility across different circuits, weather conditions, and driver skill levels will define Lamborghini’s GT3 credibility for the next era.

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