Lamborghini’s Podium Hopes Fall Just Short Despite Competitive Performances

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The first 24 Hours at Daytona in the history of Lamborghini ended positively, despite not ending the race with the results that were hoped for the Huracán GTDs lined up on the track.

 
Four out of the five cars entered in the GT Daytona (GTD) class in the endurance race at Daytona International Raceway in Daytona Beach, Florida, finished the race without showing any technical problems throughout the entire 24 hours of racing, while the fifth was forced to retire after contact.
 
The Lamborghini Huracán GTD showed on the prestigious stage that it is a fast and reliable car and is able to compete at a high level on the GT scene worldwide.
 
The four teams that competed in the race each had the opportunity to lead the GTD class and even came close to earning the class victory until a few laps from the end. Penalties and aggressive race strategies, however, compromised the final result throughout the race, in particular the final laps of the race. Until that point the race seemed to be completely in favor of Lamborghini Squadra Corse.
 
Konrad Motorsport had the GTD class victory within reach until a few minutes before the end of the race with the No. 28 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 (Babini-Basseng-Ineichen-Willsey-Konrad) Babini ran out of fuel and finished the race in fifth position in class.
 
The German team chose an aggressive strategy at the end of the race to move from sixth position to take the lead. It was within Babini’s reach due to turning some of the best lap times in the GTD class.
 
A half an hour from the end the team held the lead but it was not possible to save fuel and continue to defend the position, denying the team and Lamborghini a debut win. The team finished fifth in class.
 
The pit strategy was dictated by a BoP (Balance of Performance) imposed by IMSA that restricted the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 to use only 90 liters of fuel per pit stop, a capacity inferior to other competitors.
 
Konrad Motorsport’s second car, the No. 21 (Busnelli-Michaelian-Toussaint-Wilsey), competed through the first half of the race but multiple incidents forced the team to retire early.
 
The No.  48 of Paul Miller Racing (Bortolotti-Miller-Snow-Sellers) had increased performance, consistent pace and high levels of competition that helped the team dominate the GTD class through the first 11 hours.  A misunderstanding with the drivers, led to contact with Change Racing’s Lamborghini (Pumpelly-Lewis-Marks-Grala) that forced both cars to endure lengthy repairs. Once returned to the track, the two Huracán GT3s raced with consistent, fast times and have were able to finish 16th and 19th place, respectively.
 
“At our first experience in this historic race we are well behaved,” said Giorgio Sanna, head of Lamborghini Motorsport. “The Huracán GT3 goes very well with the characteristics of the track in Daytona and we were constantly fighting for class victory. Although the victory has escaped us for a while, we have the knowledge that we have made a great product. “
Adam Sinclair
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