A 19-Year-Old Croatian Just Outfoxed the Field at the Nürburgring
Martin Kodric picked a miserable afternoon in the Eifel mountains to collect the most important result of his young career. In the second race of the fifth and penultimate round of the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Europe, the 19-year-old Croatian, racing for Bonaldi Motorsport as a Lamborghini Squadra Corse Young Driver, capitalized on the pit-stop window to leapfrog Harald Schlegelmilch and claim his first overall victory in the series.
The conditions made the achievement far more impressive than a dry-weather pass would have been. Rain had soaked the Nürburgring’s Grand Prix circuit right up until the start, leaving the surface treacherous enough that officials sent the field behind the safety car for the opening two laps. Schlegelmilch, representing Artline Team Georgia, controlled the early running from pole position, just as he had in Race 1. Kodric, who had qualified second in both sessions, stayed close enough to make his move where it counted: in the pit lane. When both cars rejoined the circuit after their stops, Kodric emerged ahead and pulled away.
“After my pit-stop, he was still few meters ahead of me, but I managed to pass him at the first turn. At that point, I focused on the lapped cars and all went well in the end. I’m happy, because this is also my first win.”
That composure, knowing exactly what he needed to do and executing it cleanly on a surface that punishes hesitation, is what separates a promising junior from a future GT3 contender. Schlegelmilch finished second, completing what Lamborghini described as a strong weekend after his Race 1 victory. Dennis Lind of Raton Racing rounded out the podium in third after a protracted battle with Vito Postiglione of Imperiale Racing.
Squadra Corse’s Young Driver Pipeline and What a First Win Means
Kodric’s result matters beyond a single trophy because of where he sits in Lamborghini’s motorsport ecosystem. The Squadra Corse Young Driver program functions as the brand’s internal talent incubator, identifying promising racers and embedding them within competitive Super Trofeo teams to accelerate their development. Winning outright in a one-make series stocked with experienced professionals and well-funded gentleman drivers is the clearest signal a young driver can send.
The Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo series commenced in 2009, originally built around the Gallardo platform. By 2015, it had transitioned to the Huracán Super Trofeo and expanded to include regional championships in Asia alongside the European and North American calendars. That structure gives young drivers like Kodric exposure to different circuits, conditions, and competitors without requiring the budget of a full GT3 campaign.
One report suggests that Kodric’s performances through the 2016 season attracted interest for a potential GT3 drive the following year. If accurate, that trajectory illustrates exactly how the pipeline is designed to work: prove yourself in the one-make series, then graduate to the more complex, multi-manufacturer world of GT3 racing. Ferrari and Porsche run analogous programs through their respective driver academies and junior schemes, but Lamborghini’s approach benefits from the Super Trofeo’s unique position as what the series has long marketed itself as: the world’s fastest one-make championship. The racing is real, the cars are fast, and the talent identification is baked into the structure rather than bolted on as an afterthought.
For enthusiasts tracking Lamborghini’s current motorsport direction, the connection forward is significant. The Temerario GT3, which Lamborghini developed and built entirely in-house, represents the next chapter of the brand’s customer racing ambitions. Every young driver who emerges from the Super Trofeo pipeline strengthens the pool of talent available to campaign those cars when they reach the grid.
Championship Standings Tighten Across Every Class
Kodric’s victory reshuffled the PRO standings, but the championship lead still belongs to Dennis Lind. The Dane holds a six-point advantage over Schlegelmilch heading into the final round, with Postiglione dropping to third and Kodric lurking just behind him. Six points in a sprint-format series is not comfortable. One bad qualifying session or a first-lap incident in Valencia could erase that margin entirely.
The PRO-AM class delivered its own drama. Patrick Kujala and Adrian Amstutz won despite a weekend that started badly: an off-track incident by Amstutz during Friday’s free practice forced the Bonaldi Motorsport crew to miss Q1, leaving them off the podium entirely in Race 1. To recover from that setback and still take the Race 2 victory required both pace and composure. Kujala described the weekend as difficult but said he “managed to do everything at my best.” The pair retain their championship lead, ahead of GDL Racing’s Rik Breukers, who finished second after a close fight with Kujala in the closing laps.
The AM class saw the biggest shake-up. Amir Krenzia of Vincenzo Sospiri Racing scored a double victory across both races and vaulted to the top of the standings. His own assessment was telling:
“I’m happy because above all I won a competition with myself and demonstrated to have improved a lot.”
That self-awareness, crediting the team at Vincenzo Sospiri Racing for putting him in a position to succeed, is characteristic of the AM class at its best: drivers who are still developing but improving measurably weekend to weekend.
In the Lamborghini Cup, Songyang Fu of FFF Racing Team broke the recent dominance of Van der Horst Motorsport, which had locked out the top two positions in Race 1 through William Van Deyzen and Gerard Van der Horst. Van der Horst leads the Cup standings heading to Valencia, but Fu’s breakthrough win proved the category is more competitive than it appeared a round earlier.
| Class | Race 2 Winner | Championship Leader |
|---|---|---|
| PRO | Martin Kodric (Bonaldi Motorsport) | Dennis Lind (Raton Racing) |
| PRO-AM | Patrick Kujala / Adrian Amstutz (Bonaldi Motorsport) | Kujala / Amstutz |
| AM | Amir Krenzia (Vincenzo Sospiri Racing) | Amir Krenzia |
| Lamborghini Cup | Songyang Fu (FFF Racing Team) | Gerard Van der Horst (Van der Horst Motorsport) |
Racing the Huracán Super Trofeo on a Wet Nürburgring
The Huracán Super Trofeo that Kodric drove to victory is a rear-wheel-drive, naturally aspirated V10 race car stripped of the road car’s creature comforts and fitted with a full roll cage, racing suspension, and slick-compatible bodywork. In dry conditions, the car rewards precision and commitment. In the wet, it demands something closer to clairvoyance.
Rear-wheel drive on a rain-soaked surface with competition tires that cool rapidly below their operating window is one of the most demanding combinations in customer racing. The safety car start for Race 2 reflected just how marginal the grip levels were. Kodric’s ability to stay within striking distance of Schlegelmilch through those opening laps, manage tire temperatures, and then execute a faster pit stop and out-lap speaks to racecraft that goes beyond raw speed.
The series runs identical machinery, which means the car is never the differentiator. Setup choices, tire management, and driver skill account for the gaps on track. When rain arrives, those human variables are amplified dramatically. A driver who can read a drying line half a lap before the competition gains seconds per lap without touching the setup. The Nürburgring’s layout, with its elevation changes and varied surface textures, makes that reading exercise particularly difficult. Winning here in the wet is a statement, and for a Squadra Corse Young Driver trying to prove he belongs in faster machinery, it is exactly the kind of statement that gets noticed.
Valencia and the World Final: What Comes Next
The final round of the 2016 Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Europe is scheduled for December 1-2 at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, coinciding with the annual World Final. That event brings together the top competitors from the European, Asian, and North American regional series for a combined showdown.
For Lind, the math is straightforward: protect a six-point lead over one weekend and the PRO title is his. For Schlegelmilch, the task is equally clear: he needs Lind to falter while maximizing his own points. Kodric, sitting fourth in the standings, is unlikely to challenge for the overall title, but a strong result in Valencia would cap a breakthrough season and reinforce his credentials for whatever comes next.
The World Final format adds an extra layer of unpredictability. Drivers from different regional series, with different experience levels and different reference points, share the same grid. The racing tends to be aggressive early as unfamiliar competitors establish their pace relative to each other. For a young driver like Kodric, racing against the best from Asia and North America is another development opportunity the Super Trofeo structure deliberately provides.
The Super Trofeo remains one of the more accessible entry points into serious single-marque racing. The identical-car format keeps costs more predictable than multi-manufacturer GT3 competition, and the pathway from regional rounds to the World Final to potential GT3 opportunities is clearly defined. With Lamborghini’s Temerario GT3 program on the horizon, the talent emerging from this pipeline will only become more relevant to the brand’s competitive future.
Kodric’s Nürburgring win is a small story in the context of global motorsport. Within Lamborghini’s racing world, it is a proof point: the system works, the talent is real, and the championship heading to Valencia still has everything to play for.
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