A Two-Driver GTP Assault After Back-to-Back DNFs
Lamborghini’s LMDh prototype program arrives at Watkins Glen International this weekend carrying the weight of two consecutive retirements and a reshuffled cockpit. The #63 Lamborghini SC63 will contest the Sahlen’s 6 Hours of the Glen, the third round of the IMSA Endurance Cup season, with only Romain Grosjean and Daniil Kvyat splitting driving duties. Mirko Bortolotti, the third factory driver who normally shares the car, is absent due to a scheduling conflict with the Nürburgring 24 Hours, where Lamborghini says he will race a Huracán GT3 EVO2 with Abt Sportsline.
Two former Formula 1 drivers will shoulder a six-hour endurance race alone. Lamborghini identifies both Grosjean and Kvyat as Factory Drivers and regular season team-mates, so the pairing is familiar. Running a prototype endurance event with just two drivers instead of three, though, compresses rest windows and raises the physical demands on each stint. For a car that Lamborghini describes as still in a “learning experience” phase, Watkins Glen becomes a test of driver endurance as much as mechanical reliability.
The GTP retirements at Daytona and Sebring earlier this season form the uncomfortable backdrop. Lamborghini’s own pre-race framing calls the 2025 campaign “challenging” so far, diplomatic language for a car that has yet to see the checkered flag in the class this year. The company points to last year’s Watkins Glen outing as a source of encouragement, noting the SC63 ran competitively before a mechanical issue intervened. Whether that translates to a clean race this time remains entirely open.
Why Finishing Matters More Than Winning Right Now
Endurance racing programs live and die on accumulated mileage. Every retirement robs the engineering team of data that would otherwise inform setup changes, strategy refinements, and reliability improvements. Two straight DNFs at the biggest races on the IMSA calendar represent a significant gap in that development loop, and closing it is the real priority at Watkins Glen.
The 5.552-kilometer, 11-turn circuit in upstate New York is a fast, flowing layout that rewards aerodynamic stability and mechanical grip rather than the pure braking-zone aggression of a street circuit or the bumpy punishment of Sebring’s concrete surface. Lamborghini’s pre-race material highlights the likelihood of high ambient temperatures and humidity, conditions that stress cooling systems and tyre life across the GTP field. For a car searching for clean race laps, those conditions create both risk and opportunity: if the SC63 can manage its thermal loads and stay on track, six hours of running would deliver more useful data than any amount of testing.
The broader significance for Lamborghini enthusiasts is straightforward. The SC63 represents Lamborghini’s most ambitious motorsport commitment in decades, a factory LMDh prototype competing at the top tier of North American sports car racing. Every race it finishes adds credibility to that investment. Every retirement raises questions about the program’s trajectory. Watkins Glen is less about chasing a headline result and more about proving the car can run reliably for a full race distance in 2025.
The Nürburgring Clash Reshuffles More Than the Prototype
Bortolotti’s absence from Watkins Glen is not the only driver change caused by the Nürburgring 24 Hours clash. The #9 Pfaff Motorsports entry in GTD Pro also loses a regular, with Marco Mapelli committed to the same German event. Lamborghini’s solution is to promote Sandy Mitchell alongside Andrea Caldarelli for the weekend.
Mitchell is a 25-year-old Scot and former British GT champion who, according to Lamborghini, currently competes in both the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and Sprint Cup. He already holds IMSA experience from races at Road America and Daytona last year, and Lamborghini notes he raced at Watkins Glen itself during the 2019 Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series. He is not arriving cold.
Pfaff Motorsports carries real momentum into this round. Lamborghini says Caldarelli and Mapelli secured a maiden podium finish with the team at the most recent IMSA round on the streets of Detroit. Swapping Mapelli for Mitchell mid-stream could disrupt that rhythm, but the team’s confidence should be high regardless. Lamborghini adds that the Huracán GT3 EVO2 performed well at Watkins Glen last year before a collision with a backmarker ended the race prematurely, so the car itself suits the circuit. The parallel disruption in GTD Pro underscores how deeply the Nürburgring scheduling conflict cuts across Lamborghini’s entire IMSA weekend, not just the SC63 headline entry.
GTD Entries Bring Their Own Unfinished Business
Below the prototype battle, Lamborghini’s GTD presence at Watkins Glen carries its own weight. The #45 Wayne Taylor Racing Huracán GT3 EVO2, driven by Lamborghini Young Professional Driver Danny Formal alongside Trent Hindman and Graham Doyle, arrives with a particularly bitter memory. Lamborghini says the trio were “cruelly denied” a chance to win the Daytona 24 Hours in class back in January, and a difficult Sebring 12 Hours followed. For a crew that came that close at the biggest race of the year, Watkins Glen represents a chance to convert potential into a clean result.
Forte Racing, meanwhile, returns to a track where Lamborghini says Loris Spinelli claimed both class and overall pole position in 2023. Full-season drivers Mario Farnbacher and Misha Goikhberg are again joined by Parker Kligerman. The GTD line-ups in the Michelin Endurance Cup remain unchanged since the start of the season, providing continuity that the reshuffled GTP and GTD Pro entries lack.
Between the SC63 prototype, the Pfaff Motorsports GTD Pro car, and two GTD entries, Lamborghini fields four cars across three classes at a single event. That breadth of commitment, from LMDh to customer GT3 racing, reflects a motorsport strategy touching every level of the IMSA ladder. Yet the SC63 remains the bellwether. If the prototype cannot finish races, the depth of the GT3 program only sharpens the contrast.
Weekend Schedule and What to Watch
Action at Watkins Glen International opens Friday afternoon with the first of two practice sessions, followed by qualifying on Saturday and the six-hour race on Sunday. Lamborghini’s pre-race notes flag the possibility of rain showers, a recurring feature at this venue, meaning tyre strategy and qualifying performance could play outsized roles in the final result.
| Session | Day | Time (ET) |
|---|---|---|
| Free Practice 1 | Friday, June 20 | 11:25 a.m. to 12:55 p.m. |
| Free Practice 2 | Saturday, June 21 | 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. |
| Qualifying | Saturday, June 21 | 2:20 p.m. to 3:50 p.m. |
| Race | Sunday, June 22 | 12:10 p.m. to 6:10 p.m. |
Saturday’s qualifying session will be the first meaningful indicator for anyone tracking the SC63’s progress this season. Lamborghini referenced a solid qualifying effort at Watkins Glen last year as part of the car’s strong showing before mechanical trouble struck. If Grosjean and Kvyat can put the #63 in a competitive grid position, it would signal that the car’s pace over a single lap remains in the conversation, even as reliability continues to be the bigger question mark.
What Remains Unconfirmed and What to Watch For on Sunday
Lamborghini’s pre-race material is deliberately forward-looking and light on specifics about what went wrong at Daytona and Sebring. The causes of both retirements are not detailed in the official account, and no technical changes or updates to the SC63 for Watkins Glen are mentioned. The company’s framing is one of resilience and continued learning rather than diagnosis.
Several questions that enthusiasts will naturally ask remain unanswered. What the SC63 actually achieved at Watkins Glen last year, beyond running “strongly inside the top five,” is left vague. Whether the car has received any mechanical or software updates between Sebring and this round is not addressed. And with only two drivers sharing a six-hour race, the fatigue management strategy is something to watch closely, particularly in the heat and humidity that Lamborghini itself flags as a defining feature of summer racing at this circuit.
The practical takeaway for Lamborghini fans following the SC63 program: finishing the race cleanly would represent genuine progress after a brutal start to 2025. The results column can come later. Right now, the program needs laps, data, and a car that crosses the finish line under its own power. Sunday afternoon will tell us whether Watkins Glen delivers that baseline or whether the learning curve steepens further.
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