Vallelunga’s Crucial Double-Header: The Penultimate Round Explained
Fifty-two Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2 race cars are expected to roll onto the grid at the Autodromo Vallelunga Piero Taruffi this weekend, a record entry for the European series and a figure that speaks volumes about the health of Lamborghini’s one-make racing program at a pivotal moment in its history. The 15-turn, 4.085-kilometer circuit just north of Rome will host the penultimate round of the 2023 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe season, with all four class championships still unresolved.
The format itself adds intrigue. Because the planned season opener at Imola was cancelled in April, Lamborghini says Vallelunga will stage a unique double-header of standalone events spread across two consecutive weekends, compressing what would normally be two separate race meetings into a single venue. For championship contenders, this condensed schedule creates unusual strategic pressure: a bad qualifying session on Saturday, November 11th leaves almost no recovery time before both one-hour races on Sunday the 12th. The same compressed format then repeats the following weekend.
Vallelunga carries historical weight for the series. The Piero Taruffi circuit hosted the inaugural Super Trofeo World Final in 2013 and returned for the 2018 edition, which drew over 60 cars and teams from across the globe. For many drivers on this year’s grid, the circuit represents both a proving ground and a preview of the World Finals atmosphere that awaits once the European season concludes.
The Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2: A Proven Platform for Future GT3 Stars
A 52-car grid is remarkable not just as a number but as evidence of the Evo2’s maturity and accessibility as a racing platform. Lamborghini says the car delivers 620 horsepower from its naturally aspirated V10, and the spec-series format, with identical cars and minimal setup variation, strips away the engineering arms race that defines open-regulation categories. Driver talent and team strategy determine outcomes, not budget.
That philosophy serves a larger purpose within Lamborghini’s motorsport ecosystem. The Super Trofeo operates as a deliberate feeder system: drivers who prove themselves here earn attention from Squadra Corse’s GT3 programs, and the series functions as the first rung of a ladder that can lead to factory-supported seats in international endurance racing. Marcus Påverud, a Super Trofeo Europe graduate and Lamborghini GT3 Junior, returns to the category this weekend alongside Ignazio Zanon at VS Racing, a reminder that the connection between these two tiers is active and visible.
The timing matters. Lamborghini’s Temerario GT3 program represents the company’s first fully in-house competition car, and as Autoblog reported following its Goodwood debut, it marks a significant shift in how Squadra Corse will develop and build its race cars. The current Super Trofeo grid is, in practical terms, the talent pool from which future Temerario GT3 drivers will emerge. A record-sized grid at this stage of the Huracán’s competitive life suggests the transition to a new platform will inherit a deep, well-established base of teams and competitors.
Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 cars navigate a challenging turn on the racetrack.
Pro Class Showdown: Who Will Seize the Advantage?
Leipert Motorsport’s Brendon Leitch arrives at Vallelunga with an 11.5-point cushion in the Pro standings, a margin that sounds comfortable until you consider the double-header format offers roughly twice the usual points swing. The New Zealander, running as a solo driver, took his first victory at the Nürburgring before the summer break and has finished off the podium only once this season. Consistency has been his weapon.
The VS Racing pairing of Gilles Stadsbader and Mattia Michelotto sits second, armed with three wins, the most of any Pro entry this season, and momentum from a strong Valencia weekend where they clawed back four points. Oregon Team’s Marzio Moretti and Sebastian Balthasar trail Stadsbader and Michelotto by just 2.5 points after their best result of the year in Spain: a second place followed by a victory. The gap between second and third is narrow enough that a single incident could rearrange the order entirely.
Further back, BDR Competition’s Amaury Bonduel faces a 33-point deficit to Leitch. The Belgian showed raw qualifying pace at Valencia but struggled with rear grip during race conditions, a frustration that underscores how the Evo2’s setup sensitivity rewards teams who can translate one-lap speed into race-long consistency. Iron Lynx’s Ugo de Wilde and Rodrigo Testa de Sousa, eight points behind Bonduel, will be looking to convert a season plagued by misfortune into something tangible before the World Finals.
A total of 17 Pro entries will compete, bolstered by newcomers including Italian GT Cup regular Luca Segù partnering Alessio Bacci at DL Racing, and the return of TotaalPlan Racing with Belgian duo Mario Martlé and Kenneth Linthout.
A Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 car powers through a turn on the race circuit.
Pro-Am and Am: Rising Stars and Fierce Contenders on the Ladder
The Pro-Am title fight has distilled into a two-horse race between Target Racing’s Alex Au and VS Racing’s Andrzej Lewandowski, separated by eight points. Both benefit from the return of their regular co-drivers this weekend (Frederik Schandorff and Loris Spinelli, respectively), which adds an interesting variable: fresh legs and established chemistry versus the disruption of reintegrating a partner who missed recent rounds. Au claimed his third win of the season in the second race at Valencia; Lewandowski, with two victories, finished fourth.
The depth behind them reinforces the series’ role as a proving ground. Iron Lynx’s Nigel Schoonderwoerd and Yelmer Buurman sit 33 points off the lead, likely focusing on consolidating third. Brutal Fish Racing’s Edoardo Liberati and Martin Ryba lurk 3.5 points further back. From Iron Lynx’s Emanuele Zonzini and Emanuel Colombini to Micánek Motorsport’s Karol Basz and Bronislav Formánek, the gaps between fourth and seventh are measured in single digits. For anyone following the series from a talent-spotting perspective, Pro-Am is where future factory-program candidates are sharpening their credentials under genuine competitive pressure.
The Am category offers the weekend’s tightest title battle. Leipert Motorsport’s Gabriel Rindone carries a 2.5-point lead over Ibrahim Badawy, an Egyptian teenager who has emerged as the class revelation of 2023. Rindone holds the statistical edge with four wins, but a retirement at Valencia damaged his cushion. Badawy responded with a second win and a third place in Spain, keeping the fight alive. Boutsen VDS’s Pierre Feligioni and Renaud Kuppens remain mathematically in contention, 10.5 points behind Rindone, though they will need help.
A blue and teal Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 leads the pack on the racetrack.
Lamborghini Cup: The Gentleman Racers’ Battle for Glory
Bonaldi Motorsport’s Paolo Biglieri and Petar Matić hold the Lamborghini Cup lead, but the 16.5-point gap to Iron Lynx’s Donovan and Luciano Privitelio is less secure than it appears. The father-and-son Privitelio combination already has three wins this season compared to Biglieri and Matić’s four, and the double-header format means a maximum points haul could close the deficit in a single weekend.
Leipert Motorsport’s Jürgen Krebs occupies third, 7.5 points further back, while multiple LB Cup champion Gerard van der Horst returns after missing the Valencia round. Van der Horst sits just three points ahead of the improving Brutal Fish Racing pairing of Charlie Martin and Jason Keats. Iron Lynx’s Kumar Prabakaran, who has split his 2023 campaign between a partial European schedule and a full Super Trofeo Asia season, also rejoins the grid.
The Lamborghini Cup class often receives less attention than Pro or Pro-Am, yet it represents something important about the series’ commercial model. These are gentleman racers investing significant personal resources to compete at a high level in identical machinery. Their continued participation, and the class’s competitive depth, validates the Super Trofeo’s structure as a program that serves multiple audiences simultaneously: aspiring professionals, experienced amateurs, and collectors who want genuine wheel-to-wheel racing rather than track-day tourism.
A Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 car exits a colorful turn on the race circuit.
Beyond Vallelunga: The Road to the World Finals and the Temerario GT3 Era
Whatever happens at Vallelunga, the results feed directly into the World Finals, the annual event held since 2013 that brings together drivers from the European, Asian, and North American Super Trofeo championships to crown a world champion across two 50-minute sprint races. The European season’s final round follows the Vallelunga double-header, meaning the championship picture should be significantly clearer within days.
The broader context is what this grid size signals for Lamborghini’s racing future. Ferrari and Porsche operate their own one-make series (Ferrari Challenge and Porsche Carrera Cup, respectively), and participation numbers serve as a proxy for brand engagement at the grassroots level of motorsport. A record 52-car grid suggests that Lamborghini’s customer racing pipeline is robust at precisely the moment the company needs it to be, as the transition from the Huracán platform to the Temerario GT3 approaches.
For teams and drivers who have built their programs around the Huracán’s characteristics, that transition will mean adapting to an entirely new powerband, different weight distribution, and the complexities of turbo management in wheel-to-wheel racing. The Temerario GT3, as Lamborghini’s first fully in-house competition car, represents a philosophical shift as much as a technical one. The current Super Trofeo grid is, in effect, the customer base that will be asked to make that leap, and its record size is the strongest possible endorsement of the relationship between Squadra Corse and the privateer teams who fund much of Lamborghini’s racing activity.
Lamborghini has not confirmed when a Temerario-based Super Trofeo car will replace the Huracán Evo2 in the one-make series. What the current season does confirm is that the ecosystem the new car will inherit is thriving.
Three Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 cars battle for position on the race circuit.
How to Watch: Live Stream Details and Schedule
The condensed two-day timetable packs free practice and qualifying into Saturday, November 11th, with both one-hour races running on Sunday, November 12th. Classes are split across sessions in a format mirroring the World Finals: Am and Lamborghini Cup entries run together, while Pro and Pro-Am share the track.
| Session | Classes | Time (CET) |
|---|---|---|
| FP1 | Am / LB Cup | 08:30, Sat Nov 11 |
| FP1 | Pro / Pro-Am | 09:40, Sat Nov 11 |
| FP2 | Am / LB Cup | 10:50, Sat Nov 11 |
| FP2 | Pro / Pro-Am | 11:50, Sat Nov 11 |
| Qualifying 1 | Am / LB Cup | 14:40, Sat Nov 11 |
| Qualifying 2 | Am / LB Cup | 15:10, Sat Nov 11 |
| Qualifying 1 | Pro / Pro-Am | 15:40, Sat Nov 11 |
| Qualifying 2 | Pro / Pro-Am | 16:10, Sat Nov 11 |
| Race 1 | Am / LB Cup | 09:35, Sun Nov 12 |
| Race 1 | Pro / Pro-Am | 10:55, Sun Nov 12 |
| Race 2 | Am / LB Cup | 13:25, Sun Nov 12 |
| Race 2 | Pro / Pro-Am | 14:45, Sun Nov 12 |
All four races will be livestreamed on the Lamborghini Squadra Corse YouTube channel. Given the championship stakes, this is one of the more consequential weekends the series has produced in recent memory.
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