Squadra Corse Brings Race Car Production In-House for the First Time
The Temerario Super Trofeo is the first Lamborghini Super Trofeo race car to be built entirely in-house. Presented in final specification at the Autodromo di Imola — the Santerno circuit that sits roughly 75 km from the factory gates in Sant’Agata Bolognese — during the second round of the 2026 Super Trofeo Europe season, it marks a concrete change in how Lamborghini approaches customer racing. Every previous Super Trofeo car left assembly to an external build partner. The Temerario Super Trofeo will be built, tested, and shipped from a single address: Automobili Lamborghini’s facility in Sant’Agata Bolognese, the same address that stamps the VINs on Huracáns and Uruses.
For customer racing teams, that distinction carries real weight. When the manufacturer controls the entire chain from engineering to delivery, parts supply chains shorten, engineering feedback loops tighten, and warranty support becomes a single-point relationship. A team chasing a gearbox query at midnight before a race weekend no longer routes a call through a third-party assembler — the call goes directly to the people who torqued the bolts. Compare that to the outgoing Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2, where external assembly introduced a coordination layer between Sant’Agata and its build partner, adding time and ambiguity to every technical escalation. CEO Stephan Winkelmann framed the investment bluntly:
“This investment reflects a clear vision that motorsport is not simply a side project, but a core pillar of Lamborghini supported by a long-term strategy.”
That framing matters because it signals intent, not just capability. Lamborghini’s motorsport division, Squadra Corse, now owns the entire production and support chain for its flagship one-make series. The Temerario Super Trofeo replaces the Huracán Super Trofeo across all three continental championships — Asia, Europe, and North America — starting from the 2027 season.
The Huracán Super Trofeo was introduced in 2015 and evolved twice, in 2019 and 2022, giving it an unusually long competitive life spanning more than a decade. Lamborghini Factory Driver Marco Mapelli conducted demonstration laps in the car between the two 50-minute races at Imola Circuit, the same Imola Village paddock that hosted Formula 1 for decades and where the track’s elevation changes and blind crests have tested racing machinery since the 1950s. The Imola demonstration followed a static debut at the 2025 Lamborghini World Finals at Misano World Circuit, so by the time Mapelli took the wheel at the Autodromo di Imola, most teams had already seen the car sitting still. Watching it move under power, on a circuit that punishes both oversteer and mechanical grip deficits in roughly equal measure, was the first real read on how the new platform behaves.
The Lamborghini Arena event at Imola Circuit — the second edition of what Lamborghini has established as its flagship European racing weekend showcase — drew more than 400 Lamborghini models to the paddock. For the brand, choosing Imola for the Arena series is not accidental. The circuit carries historical weight that Sant’Agata’s communications team doesn’t need to manufacture, and its proximity to the factory means Lamborghini engineers can be trackside within the hour if something needs attention during a demonstration run.
The Temerario Family: Road Car, Super Trofeo, and GT3
Lamborghini has developed three versions of the Temerario platform, each serving a different purpose. The road-going Temerario is the twin-turbo V8 production car that replaced the naturally aspirated Huracán in the lineup. From that foundation, Lamborghini’s Squadra Corse division developed the Temerario GT3, which debuted at the 12 Hours of Sebring last March, and the Temerario Super Trofeo. The road car establishes the architecture; the GT3 and Super Trofeo each adapt that architecture for their respective competitive contexts.
Lamborghini describes the Super Trofeo as the “smaller sister” of the GT3. That language is precise. The GT3 is the more complex, more expensive, more technically demanding machine, built to compete against cars from Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes in mixed-field endurance and sprint racing under Balance of Performance regulations. The Super Trofeo, by contrast, races exclusively against other Temerario Super Trofeos. It is a controlled-specification machine, which is the point: when every car in the field shares the same engine tune, gearbox, and tire specification, the result is decided by driver skill and team execution, not by engineering budget. That formula is what has made the Super Trofeo series a consistent entry point for wealthy amateurs — referred to in motorsport as gentleman drivers — who want real competition without the complexity of an open-class grid.
Andrea Reggiani, Lamborghini Head of Motorsport, explained the engineering relationship between the two race cars:
“The new Temerario Super Trofeo is deeply connected to our GT3 platform, sharing key components such as the gearbox and the braking system.”
The shared gearbox is a Hoer sequential six-speed racing unit. Sequential means there are no clutch inputs required for upshifts or downshifts at speed — the driver pulls a paddle, the system executes the change, and the power interruption lasts milliseconds. The Hoer unit is purpose-built for racing, not derived from a road car transmission, which means it is designed to survive repeated aggressive downshifts into tight corners across a full season of racing without the kind of wear degradation that would concern an owner of a road-going twin-clutch unit. For teams running in multiple Lamborghini series — some will campaign both GT3 and Super Trofeo entries — the shared braking and gearbox architecture simplifies the spare parts puzzle considerably.
Where the two cars diverge is telling. The Super Trofeo’s turbochargers are identical to those fitted to the road-going Temerario rather than the GT3-specific units. That choice reflects the Super Trofeo’s role in the lineup: it is derived from the production car and tuned for consistency and accessibility rather than the outright performance ceiling that GT3 regulations demand. The car also runs 4-way adjustable KW Automotive dampers — a suspension component that allows four independent settings across bump and rebound in the front and rear circuits, letting teams tailor the car’s behavior to a specific circuit’s surface characteristics and corner types without swapping hardware. That is an important practical distinction from the GT3 setup, which runs a different damper specification suited to the wider performance envelope of multi-class racing.
The Super Trofeo is designed to be approachable for amateur racers stepping up from track days, not just for professionals. The technical choices reinforce that goal at every level: from the shared gearbox that parts-department managers at customer teams already understand, to the road-car turbochargers that behave more predictably across a wider RPM range than the GT3-specific units, to the adjustable dampers that let a driver with limited setup experience make meaningful changes without needing a full engineering team to interpret the data.
620 Horsepower, No Hybrid: What the Twin-Turbo V8 Means on Track
The engine is the headline break from tradition. The Temerario [Super Trofeo] is the first Super Trofeo car powered by a turbocharged powertrain since the championship began in 2009. Every previous Super Trofeo — the Gallardo-era cars, the original Huracán Super Trofeo, and both evolutions of the EVO2 — ran a naturally aspirated V10. Natural aspiration means no turbochargers: the engine breathes atmospheric air directly, producing power in a linear relationship with throttle position. Drivers learn to trust a naturally aspirated engine’s responses because the power delivery is immediate and proportional. A turbocharged engine introduces a time delay — the turbo must spin up on exhaust gases before it forces compressed air into the combustion chamber, and that delay, measured in fractions of a second, changes how a driver manages corner exit throttle application.
The Temerario Super Trofeo’s twin-turbo V8, derived from the road-going Temerario, delivers 620 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 650 Nm of peak torque. Those are substantial numbers, but the more important number for Super Trofeo drivers is how that power arrives. A twin-turbo setup distributes boost across two smaller turbines rather than one large unit, which reduces the time each turbine takes to spool. The result is that the Temerario Super Trofeo’s turbo lag — the pause between throttle input and peak boost — is narrower than a single-turbo layout of equivalent displacement would produce. For drivers accustomed to the Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2’s naturally aspirated V10, the adjustment is still real, but it is not the dramatic step it would be if Lamborghini had fitted a single large turbocharger.
The road-going Temerario also uses hybrid assist in some configurations, but Lamborghini chose not to carry that system into the Super Trofeo. No hybrid system. No battery pack. No electric motor filling in torque between gears. The racing version runs the combustion engine alone, which eliminates the weight and complexity of the hybrid components and keeps the car’s behavior predictable for drivers who are still developing their racecraft. Power routes exclusively to the rear wheels, a layout that demands respect but rewards a driver who has learned to manage it. Lamborghini’s stated dry weight of 1,392 kg, combined with 620 hp, produces a power-to-weight ratio of roughly 446 hp per tonne — meaningfully higher than many production sports cars and enough to make the car genuinely quick on any of the circuits the Super Trofeo series visits.
Understanding why Lamborghini went without hybrid for this car requires understanding the Super Trofeo’s structural role. It is not trying to post the fastest lap times of anything Lamborghini builds — that is the GT3’s job, and eventually the Essenza SCV12’s territory at the extreme end. The Super Trofeo is trying to give a driver who is talented and motivated but not a professional the most honest read on their own ability. A hybrid system would obscure that read by filling in gaps in the driver’s throttle technique with electric torque. Leaving it out is a deliberate choice to keep the car honest.
Chassis, Aero, and the ‘Driver Friendly’ Goal
Reggiani’s stated goal was to develop a car that is “driver friendly while integrating more sophisticated components.” In the context of a race car aimed at gentleman drivers — wealthy amateurs who race as a serious hobby, not as a profession — “driver friendly” means predictable behavior at the limit and a wide window between fast and out-of-control. A professional driver can catch a car at the edge of adhesion by reflex. A gentleman driver needs the car to telegraph that the edge is approaching with enough warning to respond consciously. Engineering that telegraph into a race car requires deliberate choices at every level of the chassis and aerodynamic package.
The chassis is a hybrid aluminum and carbon fiber reinforced polymer (ALU/CFRP) structure. Carbon fiber reinforced polymer is a composite material that offers high stiffness relative to its weight, allowing engineers to build a structure that resists flex under cornering loads without the mass penalty of an equivalent steel construction. The chassis features an integrated FIA-compliant roll cage, which means the safety structure is not a separate tube frame welded inside an existing chassis but is designed from the start as a structural contributor. The cage adds torsional rigidity — resistance to twisting forces — which makes the platform respond more consistently to suspension inputs. When the chassis twists under load, the suspension geometry changes slightly and unpredictably; eliminate the twist and the car follows the same arc through the same corner at the same speed every lap, giving the driver a stable reference to build confidence against.
Lamborghini highlights a new suspension arm mounting concept with front and rear double wishbone geometry. Double wishbones — upper and lower arms connecting the upright to the chassis at two points each — allow engineers to control camber change through the suspension’s travel more precisely than simpler layouts. When a car rolls through a corner, the outside tire’s camber angle relative to the road surface changes as the suspension compresses. Double wishbones let the engineer design that change into the system intentionally, keeping the tire’s contact patch as flat against the tarmac as possible through the full range of cornering loads. Combined with the 4-way adjustable KW dampers, teams can tune the car’s balance between understeer and oversteer across a broad range without swapping hardware — understeer meaning the front of the car pushes wide before the rear lets go, oversteer meaning the rear steps out first.
The aerodynamic package includes a rear fin for cornering stability. Think of it like a weathervane: at speed, the fin generates a restoring force that resists yaw rotation, the spinning motion around the car’s vertical axis that precedes a snap oversteer moment. When the rear of the car steps out, the fin pushes it back toward alignment with the car’s direction of travel, giving the driver a fraction of a second more time to respond. It is a passive system — no electronics, no active adjustment — which keeps it within the Super Trofeo‘s controlled-specification framework.
The car also features electro-hydraulic power steering with adjustable feedback. Power steering in a race car is not about reducing effort for convenience; it is about managing the information channel between tire and hands. Hydraulic systems transmit road feel more faithfully than fully electric setups, and the electro-hydraulic configuration here allows the feedback weight to be adjusted for driver preference and circuit characteristics. At a slow, technical street circuit, lighter steering lets the driver make many small corrections without fatigue. At a fast, flowing track like Spa-Francorchamps, higher feedback weight gives the driver more information about front-end loading through long, high-speed corners where a small loss of grip at the front tire has large consequences.
Lamborghini says the aerodynamic package was developed to maximize efficiency across various circuit configurations, which is engineering language for a drag-to-downforce ratio optimized for a spread of track types rather than for one specific kind. A car tuned for peak downforce at Monza’s long straights would be dragging too much air resistance at Imola’s tight infield. A car tuned for low drag on a high-speed circuit would be aero-limited through the medium-speed corners that define the Spa-Francorchamps layout. The Super Trofeo’s aero solution tries to thread that needle, producing a setup that gives sufficient downforce everywhere the series travels without paying the penalty of a full-downforce configuration at circuits where straight-line speed matters. For a championship that visits Imola Circuit, Spa-Francorchamps, and circuits in Asia and North America within the same calendar, that flexibility is more valuable than peak numbers on any one track.
The Cost of Competition: Regional Pricing and What You Actually Get
The European price is €295,000 plus VAT and duties, including shipping. In the United States, the car is priced at $399,000 plus applicable taxes, also including shipping. For the Asia-Pacific region, the price is €299,000 plus VAT and duties, if applicable.
Those numbers include the car, delivery, and the standard package of components needed to begin racing. To put the pricing in context: the Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 that these cars replace entered the market at prices in a broadly similar range. What buyers get at the Temerario’s price point is not just the car — it is the GT3-grade Hoer gearbox, the shared braking system that carries parts-availability guarantees, and the factory support structure that comes with a car assembled under Lamborghini’s own roof. When Squadra Corse builds the car and Squadra Corse runs the support program, the technical relationship between the customer team and the manufacturer is not mediated by a third party. That is structurally different from programs where the race car brand and the road car brand are separate entities, or where assembly is contracted out.
| Region | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Europe | €295,000 + VAT/duties | Includes shipping |
| United States | $399,000 + taxes | Includes shipping |
| Asia-Pacific | €299,000 + VAT/duties, if applicable |
For a team currently running the Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2, the transition to the Temerario for the 2027 season requires real preparation. The switch from a naturally aspirated V10 to a twin-turbo V8 changes how engineers set up corner-exit throttle mapping, how drivers approach traction zones out of slow corners, and how the car’s power delivery is managed through the gearbox. The KW damper platform requires its own learning curve, though teams already running KW products on other programs will find the interface familiar. The shared braking system and Hoer gearbox with the GT3 are the meaningful continuity anchors: teams already invested in Lamborghini’s broader racing program carry existing component expertise directly into the Temerario campaign.
For newcomers considering their first entry into a manufacturer one-make series, the in-house build and single-source support from Sant’Agata simplify the ownership equation. A customer buying a Temerario Super Trofeo is buying a relationship with the factory, not an asset that was built somewhere else and is now supported at arm’s length. In a segment where technical support quality is the deciding factor between a competitive season and a frustrating one, that distinction is worth more than any individual spec figure on the sheet.
Imola, Lamborghini Arena, and What Comes Next
The Lamborghini Arena event at Imola Circuit — Lamborghini’s chosen stage for the Temerario Super Trofeo’s operational debut — is deliberately placed. The Santerno circuit, named for the river that runs alongside the back section of the track, has hosted Formula 1, World Touring Car Championships, and international endurance racing. It is demanding in the specific way that rewards drivers who can manage elevation changes and limited sightlines: Imola’s corners often arrive before the driver can see the apex, requiring a trust-the-car commitment built through practice laps. That is precisely the environment in which a machine designed around driver confidence either validates or fails its engineering brief.
The Imola Village paddock that hosted the Lamborghini Arena event accommodated a parade of more than 400 Lamborghini models alongside the racing program, giving the brand’s customer community a view of the full lineup surrounding the Temerario Super Trofeo’s dynamic debut. Mapelli’s demonstration laps between the two 50-minute races gave attendees their first view of the car under power on a circuit that applies real load to every system — the twin-turbo V8 working through the power band on the back straight toward Rivazza, the KW dampers managing the compression through Tamburello, the rear fin loaded up through Acque Minerali.
Round three of the current Super Trofeo Europe championship, still running the Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2, moves to Spa-Francorchamps next month. That gives existing teams one more season to extract the last of what the V10-powered car can offer before the turbo era begins in 2027. The Huracán platform served the series for over a decade, evolving through two specification updates while the naturally aspirated V10 remained its constant — the same basic engine architecture that powered Gallardo-era Lamborghinis, refined across successive generations of the Super Trofeo. The Temerario’s twin-turbo V8 breaks that continuity completely.
The Autodromo di Imola, hosting Squadra Corse for the Lamborghini Arena’s second edition, was the right circuit to make that break visible. When Mapelli ran the car between the EVO2 races, anyone in the grandstands could hear the difference: twin-turbo induction replacing the open-throttle howl of a naturally aspirated V10. For the teams in the pitlane, the message was practical — they had one season to prepare their engineers, their drivers, and their setup knowledge for a fundamentally different car. For the brand, it was simpler: the call now goes directly to the factory that built it, and the factory is the same one that built every road car that started this.
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