A Dramatic Opener at Yas Marina
Lamborghini’s new Super Trofeo Middle East series got the kind of inaugural race that scriptwriters would reject for being too convenient. At Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, the pole-sitting Huracán Super Trofeo of GDL Racing, crewed by 18-year-old Lamborghini Young Driver Rik Breukers and former GP2 competitor Axcil Jefferies, was eliminated at the first corner after contact with the GT3 Poland entry of Myszkowski and Lewandowski. The fastest car on the grid never completed a racing lap.
What followed was a 50-minute scramble reshuffled by a safety car deployment, a mid-race driver swap, and a red flag that froze the standings ten minutes before the scheduled finish. The overall victory and AM class win went to the Italian pairing of Davide Roda and Marco Antonelli, running the #72 Huracán for Antonelli Motorsport. Marco Antonelli, taking over after the mandatory driver change, climbed from behind the leaders to the front of the field before the race was curtailed. Jack Bartholomew and Parth Ghorpade claimed the PRO class for FFF Racing Team by ACM, while Costantino Bertuzzi and Farmer took PRO-AM honors for GDL Racing. In the Lamborghini Cup class, Gabriele Murroni of Petri Corse won on his very first outing in competitive motorsport.
The chaos was genuine, but the broader significance of this event reaches well beyond one red-flagged race on an Abu Dhabi Friday night. Launching a fourth continental one-make series signals that Squadra Corse sees the Gulf as fertile ground for the kind of customer racing ecosystem that has already taken root in Europe, Asia, and North America.
Why the Middle East, Why Now
Lamborghini motorsport boss Giorgio Sanna called the Middle East a “strategic” market, and the word choice matters. The Super Trofeo Europe series was established in 2009, built around the Gallardo. Since then, Squadra Corse expanded the one-make concept to Asia and North America, creating three continental championships that feed into a single World Final each season. The Middle East represents the fourth regional series, and its calendar is deliberately designed not to overlap with the other three, allowing drivers to use it as supplementary seat time or a proving ground before committing to a full continental campaign.
The inaugural season consists of three rounds split between Yas Marina Circuit and Dubai Autodrome. That compact schedule lowers the barrier for regional entrants, many of whom are wealthy enthusiasts or aspiring professionals looking for structured competition without the travel commitment of a European or Asian calendar. The Gulf region already supports a robust ecosystem of track days, private collections, and dealer events. Converting some of that enthusiasm into organized, manufacturer-backed racing is a logical commercial play.
The timing aligns with a period of aggressive Lamborghini brand expansion in the region. Dealership networks across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar continue to grow, and customer racing provides a direct engagement tool that no amount of showroom polish can replicate. A buyer who races a Huracán Super Trofeo under the Squadra Corse banner develops a relationship with the brand that extends far beyond the transaction. The inaugural grid at Yas Marina, populated by teams from Europe, India, and the region itself, already hints at the international draw Lamborghini was counting on.
The Huracán Super Trofeo as a Teaching Machine
Every car on the grid at Yas Marina was a Huracán Super Trofeo, and that uniformity is the entire point. One-make series strip away the variable of machinery and isolate driver skill, team preparation, and racecraft. The Huracán Super Trofeo features an enhanced version of the production car’s 5.2-liter naturally aspirated V10, and one report indicates it produces 611 hp while shedding roughly 550 lbs compared to the road car through extensive use of carbon fiber and aluminum. Rear-wheel drive only, no all-wheel-drive safety net.
That configuration accelerates driver development. A naturally aspirated V10 delivers power in a linear, predictable arc, rewarding precision on corner exit rather than relying on electronic torque management to mask mistakes. For amateur and gentleman drivers in the AM and Lamborghini Cup classes, the car is approachable enough to learn on. For PRO-class entrants, it is a stepping stone toward higher-tier GT3 competition.
The class structure reflects this philosophy. PRO, PRO-AM, AM, and Lamborghini Cup categories ensure that a first-time racer like Gabriele Murroni competes against peers of similar experience, not against seasoned professionals. Murroni’s Lamborghini Cup victory on his motorsport debut is exactly the kind of outcome the series is engineered to produce: a new driver hooked on competitive racing, likely to progress through the ranks and remain within Lamborghini’s ecosystem. The Middle East calendar, shorter and more accessible than its continental siblings, makes that first step even easier to take.
How Super Trofeo Stacks Up Against Rival One-Make Programs
Lamborghini is not the only manufacturer running a customer racing ladder in the Middle East and globally. Ferrari operates the Ferrari Challenge series with a similar regional structure, and Porsche fields the Carrera Cup in multiple markets. Each program serves the same fundamental purpose: brand engagement, driver development, and a competitive environment that keeps wealthy enthusiasts buying the next car.
Where Lamborghini’s approach differs is in the directness of the pipeline. The Super Trofeo series feeds talent and experience upward toward GT3 competition, and Squadra Corse’s recent unveiling of the Temerario GT3 (the first Lamborghini competition car fully designed, developed, and built in-house, according to Autoblog) signals that the company is investing more heavily than ever in its racing infrastructure. A driver who cuts teeth in Super Trofeo Middle East could, within a few seasons, find a path to international GT3 endurance racing under the same manufacturer umbrella.
Ferrari Challenge and Porsche Carrera Cup are well-established programs with deep entry lists and decades of operational refinement. Lamborghini’s advantage in the Middle East may come down to timing and appetite. Launching a new regional series while competitors already occupy the space is a bet that the Lamborghini brand carries enough gravitational pull in the Gulf to attract entries on its own merits. The three-round calendar also offers a lower total season investment than the six-round continental championships in Europe, Asia, and North America, making it an accessible entry point for drivers testing the waters of organized GT racing.
Class Winners and Key Storylines from Race One
Beyond the headline result, the inaugural race delivered several narratives worth tracking across the remaining two rounds.
Bartholomew and Ghorpade’s PRO class victory for FFF Racing Team by ACM came with a notable backstory. Ghorpade, an Indian driver transitioning from single-seaters to GT machinery, described the Huracán as “really fantastic” while acknowledging he is still adapting to the car’s characteristics. Bartholomew kept the car clean during his stint, and the pair benefited from the first-corner attrition and safety car timing. Their teammates in the #15 car, Carrie Schreiner and Richard Goddard, set the fastest lap of the race while finishing third overall, quietly underscoring the depth of the FFF Racing operation.
In PRO-AM, Bertuzzi’s podium reaction was telling. A veteran of another one-make series (which he did not name), Bertuzzi admitted he did not expect to finish on the podium and expressed satisfaction with his first experience in a Lamborghini. That kind of cross-pollination, drivers migrating from rival manufacturer programs into Super Trofeo, is precisely the competitive dynamic Lamborghini wants to encourage as it builds out the Middle East grid.
The AM class battle between Roda and Antonelli’s winning #72 and the entries of Vincent Wong (Top Speed Racing, second) and Andrew Haryanto (GDL Racing, third) illustrated the international character of the field. Italian, Chinese, and Indonesian names on the same results sheet, racing under floodlights in Abu Dhabi. The series’ geographic diversity is already broader than its compact calendar might suggest, and that diversity is itself evidence that Squadra Corse’s strategic bet on the region has substance behind it.
What Comes Next for Super Trofeo Middle East
The second race of the opening round was scheduled for the following day at Yas Marina, with two additional rounds at Dubai Autodrome completing the inaugural season. Whether top performers from this compact calendar will earn invitations or eligibility for the Super Trofeo World Final remains unconfirmed by Lamborghini, though the non-overlapping schedule is clearly designed to allow crossover participation.
The longer-term question is whether this series grows beyond three rounds and two circuits. The Gulf region offers additional FIA-grade facilities in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, any of which could host future rounds if demand justifies expansion. Lamborghini’s willingness to invest Squadra Corse resources in logistics and technical support for a relatively small inaugural grid suggests confidence in the region’s growth potential.
Lamborghini now operates customer racing on four continents, with a clear pathway from entry-level one-make competition to international GT3 endurance. The Huracán Super Trofeo remains the foundation of that ladder for now, but with the Temerario GT3 on the horizon, the entire structure is poised for a generational transition. The drivers gaining experience under Yas Marina’s floodlights today may well be the ones adapting to that next-generation race car tomorrow.
One practical note for anyone considering participation: the Middle East series’ compact format and warm-weather venues make it an appealing winter option for European-based teams. Several entries at the inaugural round appear to be exactly that, established outfits using the Gulf calendar to develop drivers and refine setups outside their primary championship commitments. If you are a team principal or aspiring racer looking for structured, manufacturer-supported seat time without committing to a full continental season, this is worth watching closely.
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