Two Races, Two Wins, One Message
Austin Versteeg left Laguna Seca in September 2017 with everything a Pro-Am driver could want: two overall victories, two class wins, and a championship campaign that refused to die. Driving the No. 7 Huracán Super Trofeo for DXDT Racing and Lamborghini Dallas, Versteeg swept both 50-minute sprint races on the 2.238-mile, 11-turn circuit along California’s central coast, extending what Lamborghini says was a streak of four consecutive class wins heading into the weekend.
The result carried weight well beyond the trophy count. Laguna Seca was the final round of competition on U.S. soil for the 2017 season, so every point earned or lost here would travel directly to the season finale at Imola in November. For Versteeg, the sweep kept his Pro-Am championship bid credible. For the series itself, it guaranteed that multiple class titles would come down to the wire at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.
“Crazy weekend. This track is crazy to drive on. It throws something different at you every time you are out on the track. But I can’t thank the DXDT crew enough for giving me a wicked car all weekend and allowing me to push how I do.”
Versteeg credited strategy as much as speed, noting that he pulled a gap early in Sunday’s race to account for the longer pit window that solo Pro-Am drivers face compared to two-driver Pro entries. That kind of tactical awareness, managing tire degradation and traffic on a circuit famous for elevation changes and the blind commitment of the Corkscrew, separated a good weekend from a dominant one. It also illustrated a broader truth about the Lamborghini Super Trofeo: in a one-make series where every car shares the same V10 platform, championships are decided by preparation, racecraft, and the willingness to think several laps ahead.
Hindman and Agostini Locked Down the Pro Title Race
Versteeg won overall, but the Pro division battle told its own story about how the Super Trofeo rewards consistency over flash. Riccardo Agostini and Trent Hindman, sharing the No. 1 Prestige Performance entry for Lamborghini Paramus, recovered from a brake issue in Saturday’s race to claim second overall and the Pro class victory on Sunday. Agostini managed tire wear through the first stint, keeping the car in position before handing off to Hindman, who moved into second by Lap 19 and closed on Versteeg without quite having the pace to make a pass.
The result expanded their points lead in the Pro championship. Hindman was pragmatic about it.
“We just didn’t quite have the pace today. Congratulations to Austin. He drove a hell of a race. For us, the more important thing is the championship.”
Their closest rival, Richard Antinucci in the No. 16 Change Racing entry for Lamborghini Carolinas, encountered trouble on Sunday after Prestige Performance’s own misfortune on Saturday. The law of averages, as Hindman put it, worked in their favor. With Imola remaining, the Pro title looked increasingly secure for the Prestige Performance pairing, though Hindman was already looking beyond the continental championship toward the World Final.
Brandon Gdovic in the No. 30 DAC Motorsports entry for Lamborghini Palm Beach rounded out the overall podium in third, finishing second in the Pro class.
Harata and Perez Tightened Their Grip on Am and LB Cup
The Super Trofeo’s multi-class structure means the overall results only tell part of the story, and the Am and Lamborghini Cup divisions offered their own lessons in championship management. Yuki Harata, driving the No. 55 Dream Racing Motorsports entry for Lamborghini Las Vegas, captured his fifth Amateur division win of the season. Starting fourth on the grid, Harata ran as high as first overall during the pit stop cycle and finished fourth, holding off the Pro-classified Edoardo Piscopo on the final lap. In ten rounds of competition, Harata finished off the podium only once, a consistency record that made him the clear favorite for the Am championship heading to Italy.
In the Lamborghini Cup division, JC Perez delivered his sixth win of the season in the No. 71 P1 Motorsports entry for Lamborghini Palm Beach. Perez, who had recently returned from competing in the European Super Trofeo series, drove conservatively in the closing laps to protect his commanding points lead.
“I pushed when I had to push at the beginning and then at the end I just didn’t want to risk the car. My guys have been really good with the car and I didn’t want to do anything at the last race, especially with such a commanding lead.”
The contrast between Versteeg’s aggressive front-running and Perez’s calculated restraint illustrated the tactical range the Super Trofeo format demands across its divisions. Both approaches worked because the series structure, with its separate class championships, allows different strategies to coexist on the same circuit at the same time.
The 2018 Huracán Super Trofeo EVO Made Its North American Debut
Laguna Seca also served as the stage for the North American unveiling of the 2018 Huracán Super Trofeo EVO, giving the weekend a forward-looking dimension that connected the current championship fight to the series’ next chapter. Lamborghini says the updated car features entirely redesigned aerodynamics, new safety devices, and improvements to its mechanical and electronic systems. The EVO was shown to fans and series competitors during pre-race ceremonies for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, giving the teams who would race it in spring 2018 their first in-person look.
The underlying platform remained familiar: a V10 direct-injection engine managed by a MoTeC control unit, producing 620 horsepower, mounted in a hybrid carbon and aluminum chassis. Lamborghini describes the frame as featuring modified geometries to house an improved front radiator and better accommodate the racing gearbox at the rear, contributing to improved aerodynamic performance. For teams already invested in the Huracán Super Trofeo ecosystem, the EVO represented a meaningful evolution rather than a clean-sheet redesign. The car would go on to serve across all three continental championships (Europe, Asia, and North America) starting in 2018.
One detail worth noting for collectors and future buyers: Huracán Super Trofeo cars occasionally surface on the secondary market, and the EVO generation tends to command attention. Autoblog reported on a low-mileage 2020 EVO Collector edition listed with just 84 miles, underscoring how these purpose-built race cars can transition into collectible assets once their competitive careers end.
Why the Super Trofeo Series Matters to Lamborghini Enthusiasts
Everything that played out at Laguna Seca reflects the specific role the Super Trofeo occupies in Lamborghini’s motorsport ecosystem. Organized by Squadra Corse, the brand’s racing division, the one-make series runs identical cars across continental championships in Europe, Asia, and North America before converging at an annual World Final. Because the cars are mechanically equal, results reflect driver skill and team preparation rather than engineering budgets, which makes the racing closer and the championship battles more dramatic.
For Lamborghini as a brand, the series serves multiple purposes simultaneously. It gives dealerships a direct connection to motorsport: every entry in the results carries a dealer name, from Lamborghini Dallas to Lamborghini Paramus to Lamborghini Palm Beach to Lamborghini Las Vegas. It provides a structured pathway for gentleman drivers who want genuine wheel-to-wheel competition in a professionally organized environment. And it generates real-world track data and engineering feedback that feeds back into road car development, a pipeline that eventually informed cars like the Huracán STO and, looking further ahead, Lamborghini’s approach to the Temerario GT3.
The multi-class structure (Pro, Pro-Am, Amateur, and Lamborghini Cup) keeps the series accessible to drivers at different experience levels while maintaining competitive integrity within each division. A driver like Harata, competing in the Amateur class, can race on the same circuit at the same time as Pro drivers like Agostini and Hindman, learning from the experience while fighting for his own championship. That ladder structure is part of what makes the Super Trofeo more than a vanity exercise.
Forum discussion among Lamborghini enthusiasts reflects a mix of genuine appreciation for the racing and occasional skepticism about the competitive intensity. Some fans describe the series as closer to a structured track day than a cutthroat championship, while others point to the tight points battles and the quality of the driving as evidence that the competition is real. The truth, as the 2017 Laguna Seca weekend demonstrated, sits somewhere in between: the racing can be genuinely compelling, particularly when championship pressure concentrates the field’s attention.
What Remained Unresolved Heading to Imola
Laguna Seca clarified some championship pictures while leaving others tantalizingly open. Hindman and Agostini’s Pro points lead looked commanding but not mathematically sealed. Versteeg’s Pro-Am title bid was alive precisely because of his sweep, though the margin remained tight enough that Imola would be decisive. Harata and Perez appeared to hold the strongest positions in the Am and LB Cup divisions, respectively, though neither title was officially clinched.
Lamborghini confirmed that the final two rounds of the 2017 season would take place November 17 and 18 at Imola, followed immediately by the World Final where North American, European, and Asian series competitors would race for a global championship. For drivers like Hindman, who explicitly mentioned targeting the World Title, the North American rounds were a stepping stone rather than the destination.
The practical takeaway for anyone following the series or considering future participation: the Super Trofeo’s structure rewards consistency across an entire season, not just raw speed at any single event. Versteeg’s sweep was spectacular, but Hindman’s steady accumulation of points through a season that included mechanical setbacks illustrated the championship’s true currency. That dynamic, where different strategies can both succeed within the same series, is what keeps the Lamborghini Super Trofeo relevant as a competitive platform rather than simply a hospitality exercise wrapped around fast cars.
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