Photo: Charly Lopez/DPPI
Lamborghini CEO Stefan Winkelmann has ruled out the Italian marque continuing its hydrogen program in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the future.
While the likes of Toyota, Alpine and BMW have expressed interest in the hydrogen class, which is set to enter service at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2028 following a delay announced by the ACO last month, Lamborghini has taken a different view.
Winkelmann explained that Lamborghini is instead focusing on hybridization, currently served by its LMDh program in the WEC and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, with synthetic fuels and fully electric cars further on the agenda.
When asked if Lamborghini could consider hydrogen during a meeting with reporters at Le Mans last month, Winkelmann replied: “This is not possible for us.”
Lamborghini technical director and acting head of motorsport Rouven Mohr added: “From a purely technological point of view, this is an interesting thing. But as Lamborghini, we have our hybridization plan with classic internal combustion engines.
“We are a small brand and that also applies to technology development. We need to focus on what is our priority. We can’t spread our efforts over 10,000 different things. We have a clear strategy and hydrogen is not on our priority list.”
Winkelmann said the final step in his hybridization drive will be the unveiling of the successor to the Huracan sports car at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
A GT3 version of the as-yet-unnamed car will be introduced by Lamborghini in 2025 before a racing debut in 2026, with a Super Trofeo version to follow in 2027.
“We will be the first sports car manufacturer to have all cars hybridized, which is an important achievement that is greatly appreciated by customers,” continued Winkelmann.
“The second step in our view will be to stay with as many hybrids as possible in super sports cars and look very closely at what opportunities synthetic fuels may have and move to the next generation with that type of approach.
“For everyday cars, we still believe they will be fully electric from the 1930s, as we have shown with the Lanzador. [electric concept car] last year at Pebble Beach. This is our strategy.”
While the Huracan successor will be a hybrid, Rohr has made it clear that the GT3 version will not be, while also revealing that the race car will use the base engine from the road model and not the 3.8-liter supercharged V8 found in the SC63.
“Since there is a Balance of Performance in GT3, it will not be a hybrid and the engine will have to be modified,” explained Rohr.
On whether the Super Trofeo version could be a hybrid, he added: “It could be possible, but we have a clear opinion on that. We have to base ourselves on the possibilities of our customers.
“As long as you have high voltage in the car, you turn off a lot of customers because you need a different race team structure.
“We make custom races for customers. In GT3 we partially have a technology field, but the customer race is the basis of everything. We have to have a car that the teams can run.”
Track Day SC63 version under consideration
Rohr admitted the possibility that the SC63 could be converted into a race car in the same way as the Ferrari 499P Modificata.
A mock-up of a potential race-day version of the SC63 was displayed in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo hospitality area during the Imola and Spa rounds of the WEC in orange livery.
But Rohr said no final decision had been made on the race car, although he said the extension of the Hypercar rules until the end of the 2029 season gives Lamborghini more time to consider the matter.
“It’s too early to talk about it because there are certain boundary conditions that we have to meet to clearly separate the racing car from this,” Rohr said. “The extension of the homologation period certainly has an effect on this.
“Obviously the racing car is priority one and then we have to discuss how those cars would be technically separated because you can’t just do another badge. It looks simple from the outside, but in reality it is not that easy.’
When asked if selling day-track versions of the SC63 could help fund the program, Rohr said, “It would certainly be very attractive financially.”
