Two Cars, One Circuit, Zero Wins: Lamborghini’s Macau Farewell Bid
Lamborghini Squadra Corse will field a two-car factory entry at the Macau GT World Cup from November 13 to 16, operated by Absolute Corse, with factory drivers Edoardo Mortara and Luca Engstler piloting Huracán GT3 EVO2s through the Guia Circuit’s concrete-lined corridors. The objective is simple and long overdue: a maiden FIA GT World Cup victory at a venue where Lamborghini’s GT3 cars, across four entries, remain winless.
The timing transforms a routine calendar entry into something far more charged. This race marks the final full-season competitive appearance for the Huracán GT3, a platform that defined Lamborghini’s customer racing identity for a decade. Its successor, the Temerario GT3, the first competition car fully designed and built in-house at Sant’Agata Bolognese, is slated for its debut in 2026. Macau therefore becomes both a farewell and a final exam: can the Huracán close its competitive chapter with the one major result that eluded it?
Lamborghini’s CTO Rouven Mohr framed the stakes clearly, calling the race the “final chapter of the Huracán GT3’s last full season” and expressing the desire to close the car’s competitive arc “in the best possible way.” Everything about this entry, the driver pairing, the team selection, the public framing, points toward a manufacturer that wants the Huracán’s last dance to end with a trophy it has never held.
Mortara’s Macau Mastery and Engstler’s Unfinished Score
The driver pairing reinforces the seriousness of the campaign. One knows every bump in the Guia Circuit’s asphalt; the other has a score to settle with it.
Edoardo Mortara accumulated 16 podium finishes in Macau since 2008, with 10 victories spanning qualification races, main events, and support races in both Formula 3 and GT machinery. The nickname “King of Macau” did not arrive by accident. In 2025, Mortara also raced alongside Romain Grosjean in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship rounds at Indianapolis and Road Atlanta, positioning him as one of the most versatile drivers in Lamborghini’s current factory stable.
Mortara acknowledged the gap between his personal Macau record and Lamborghini’s. He described “unfinished business” and noted that last year’s campaign was hampered by a lack of straight-line speed. The car felt strong through the mountain section, but the top-speed deficit proved costly where overtaking opportunities are scarce.
Luca Engstler arrives with different motivation. The German, promoted to Lamborghini Factory Driver at the start of the 2025 season, was forced to withdraw from both races at Macau last year following a heavy qualifying crash. His 2025 season reads like a redemption arc already in progress: three race victories in GT World Challenge Europe, including a Spa 24 Hours triumph alongside Mirko Bortolotti and Jordan Pepper in June. Returning to the circuit that ended his 2024 campaign early, with a Spa win and factory status in his pocket, adds a personal edge that the Macau weekend rarely lacks.
A Lamborghini race driver, holding his helmet, stands confidently before the striking SC63 LMDh on the track at sunset.
A Decade of V10 Dominance, One Glaring Omission
The reason Macau looms so large over the Huracán’s farewell is precisely because the rest of the trophy cabinet is so full. Rouven Mohr stated that the platform, across its original GT3, EVO, and EVO2 iterations, collected 99 titles and 200 overall victories worldwide over a decade, with its competitive journey beginning at Monza in the GT World Challenge Europe in 2015. One independent report indicates the car reached its 100th GT3 race victory by June 2021. Key wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and the Spa 24 Hours cemented the Huracán GT3 as a genuine contender across continents and formats.
Yet the Huracán GT3 never managed a victory at the FIA GT World Cup in Macau. Lamborghini did taste success on the Guia Circuit before the Huracán era: the Gallardo GT3 claimed back-to-back Macau GT Cup victories in 2009 and 2010 with Keita Sawa. But the FIA GT World Cup, restored to its current format in 2023 after losing that status between 2020 and 2022, remains a blank page in the Huracán’s otherwise comprehensive record. Two fourth-place finishes in the 2022 Macau GT Cup with Kang Ling represent Lamborghini’s best recent results on the circuit. That single omission is what gives the 2025 entry its emotional gravity: 200 wins mean less when the one you never got is the one everyone remembers.
The Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO, featuring its distinctive racing livery, stands ready on the track against a lush green backdrop.
New Superpole Format and Torque Sensors Could Shuffle the Deck
The 2025 Macau GT World Cup weekend retains its familiar structure: a 12-lap, 60-minute qualification race sets the grid for the 17-lap, 70-minute main race. The meaningful change sits in qualifying itself. A new Q2 Superpole session will see the fastest 10 cars from the initial 30-minute qualifying session compete for grid position on fresh tires, a format designed to minimize the impact of red flags and traffic that historically distort qualifying on the tight Guia Circuit. For teams running at the front, it rewards outright car pace and driver precision, areas where Mortara’s Macau experience should be a significant asset.
The more unpredictable variable is the FIA’s introduction of torque sensors for the 2025 event. Mortara flagged this as a “significant challenge” for both teams and manufacturers, suggesting the new sensors could “reshuffle the field.” Lamborghini has not detailed how the regulation change affects the Huracán GT3 EVO2’s performance characteristics relative to rivals, and the established Balance of Performance pecking order may not carry over cleanly from other 2025 GT3 events. If the torque sensors happen to favor the Huracán’s V10 power delivery characteristics, the car’s final full-season outing could produce a result that rewrites its Macau legacy entirely.
The Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO powers through a turn on the race track, its aggressive front design prominent.
What Macau Means for the Temerario GT3 Transition
Beyond the immediate race result, Macau serves as a symbolic handoff. As Car and Driver reported, the Temerario GT3 is the first competition car entirely designed, developed, and built in-house at Sant’Agata Bolognese, replacing the long-standing collaboration with Dallara that underpinned the Huracán GT3 program. The new car will run a modified version of the Temerario road car’s twin-turbocharged V8, abandoning the naturally aspirated V10 that defined the Huracán’s sound and character on track.
That engineering transition carries real implications for customer racing teams. Programs built around the Huracán’s linear V10 power delivery, weight distribution, and well-understood tire degradation patterns will need to recalibrate entirely when the Temerario GT3 enters service in 2026. One report suggests Lamborghini Squadra Corse might eventually introduce the Temerario GT3 to the Guia Circuit with a customer team, though Lamborghini has not confirmed any such plan.
What the company has confirmed is that 2026 marks the new car’s competitive debut, making the 2025 Macau weekend the last time the V10 soundtrack reverberates off the Guia Circuit’s barriers in a factory-supported Lamborghini GT3 entry. The Huracán GT3 EVO2 remains a proven, well-supported platform with a decade of accumulated data and established engineering knowledge. The Temerario GT3 will arrive with the promise of in-house development agility but none of that competitive mileage. That contrast only sharpens the significance of whatever happens in November.
The Difference Between 200 Wins and 201
Lamborghini’s rivals will not be sending ceremonial entries. Ferrari’s 296 GT3, Porsche’s 911 GT3 R, and Mercedes-AMG’s GT3 all compete at the sharp end of international GT3 racing, and each manufacturer treats Macau as a prestige event worth winning. Lamborghini’s challenge is compounded by the fact that it does not contest the full FIA GT World Cup calendar, meaning Absolute Corse will arrive with less circuit-specific data from the 2025 regulatory environment than some rivals.
Mortara’s admission about lacking top speed in 2024 points to a specific vulnerability on the Guia Circuit’s long straight. Whether Absolute Corse and Squadra Corse have found a solution within the Balance of Performance framework, or whether the new torque sensors alter the competitive equation, will only become clear during Thursday’s practice sessions.
Car and Driver recently tested the Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 at Virginia International Raceway, recording a 2:30.6 lap time with 612 horsepower and an estimated weight of 2,950 pounds, a reminder that the Huracán racing platform remains formidable even as its replacement approaches.
A win at Macau would give the Huracán GT3 the one headline result missing from its record and provide the kind of narrative closure that motorsport rarely delivers so neatly. A loss would not diminish a decade of accumulated victories and titles. But the difference between 200 wins and 201, when the 201st comes on the Guia Circuit in the car’s final full-season race, is the kind of story that transcends statistics. Lamborghini clearly understands that, which is why Mortara and Engstler are on the entry list.
A smiling Lamborghini race driver stands proudly in front of the iconic Lamborghini logo, ready for the challenge.
Gallery
