Bull fight! Living the Lamborghini dream on the road and racetrack
Ferruccio Lamborghini wasn’t a fan of motorsport. While Enzo Ferrari sold road cars primarily to bankroll racing teams, his rival on the opposite side of Modena saw things differently. Launching the Lamborghini Miura in 1966 – widely regarded as the world’s first supercar – Ferruccio said: “Every one I build [will be] like winning a grand prix, and people will talk about it for long after they have forgotten who won the race.”
Despite its founder’s misgivings, though, Lamborghini did dabble in racing over the years. It supplied 3.5-litre V12 engines to the Larousse, Modena and Ligier F1 teams between 1989 and 1993, then competed at Le Mans in the early 2000s with the Murcielago R-GT.
The turning point came in 2013, with the establishment of Squadra Corse. Literally translated as ‘Racing Team’, Lamborghini’s in-house motorsport division developed a GT3 version of the Huracan that won titles in the British GT Championship and Blancpain GT Series, among others. The company also threw its weight behind a one-make Super Trofeo race series for wealthy ‘gentlemen drivers’, using the Lamborghini Gallardo at first, then the Huracan from 2014.
The Lamborghini World Finals is the season finale for the three Super Trofeo championships now staged each year, in Europe, Asia and North America. The latest event brought together 73 cars, 121 drivers and more than 10,000 spectators at the Circuito de Jerez near Seville – originally built to host the Spanish Grand Prix. After three days immersed in all things Lamborghini, I came away with ears ringing and adrenaline coursing, ready to sell the house, remortgage the children and begin a glamorous new life as a Super Trofeo driver. None of those things happened, of course, but here is what did…
DAY ONE (FRIDAY)
I arrive in Jerez and immediately bump into Stephan Winkelmann, Lamborghini’s effortlessly stylish chief exec, in the hotel lobby. He has little time for small-talk, however, and I’m due at the track to drive some cars. All I need to do first is sign numerous forms promising not to crash and die. If Italians do one thing even better than hedonistic supercars, it’s head-scratching bureaucracy.
At the circuit, qualifying is already underway and the air quakes with a combined chorus of unsilenced V10 engines. I’m given a coveted access-all-areas lanyard, then ushered through to a busy pit garage, where one of Squadra Corse’s tame racing drivers joins me for a closer look at Lamborghini’s current Super Trofeo racer: the Huracan EVO2.
It might look like a Huracan STO in sponsorship warpaint, but the EVO2 is a very different beast to the road car. Its enormous diffuser and swan-neck spoiler boost downforce, while a rear dorsal fin enhances stability at speed. The car’s body is made entirely from carbon fibre – easier to repair than aluminum, as it can be patched and retain its strength – and its 18-inch centre-lock wheels are shod with Hankook slick tyres.
Inside, the Huracan EVO2 looks brutally basic: no carpets or trim, just an FIA-spec roll cage, custom switch panel and single hard-shell seat. The steering wheel is a detachable, F1-style yoke with colourful buttons that allow the driver to adjust traction control and ABS settings, activate a pit lane speed limiter, communicate with the race engineer and a bewildering amount besides. The Huracan’s heart is the same 5.2-litre naturally aspirated V10 found in showroom-spec cars, although here it runs on refined racing fuel and drives the rear wheels via a six-speed X-Trac sequential manual transmission (as opposed to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic). Peak power of 620hp at 8,250rpm means the Super Trofeo EVO2 can actually outpace a Huracan GT3 on the straights – and makes it one of the quickest one-make race cars (a lot of) money can buy.
As the qualifying session roars and rumbles to its conclusion, I’m ushered outside to a waiting Huracan Sterrato. Ironically, recent rain has made the on-site rally stage “too muddy” for skidding about in Lamborghini’s off-road supercar, so an empty car park dotted with traffic cones has to suffice. Still, with a damp surface, knobbly Bridgestone Dueler tyres and that maniac V10 yammering inches behind my ears, I have no difficulty going sideways. Hilariously sideways, in fact. Note: some cones were harmed during the making of this paragraph.
It’s then time to ‘test the agility’ of the new Urus SE on Jerez’s go-kart circuit. And no, a tightly coiled track designed for vehicles with lawn mower engines isn’t the natural playground for a 2.5-tonne SUV. But that doesn’t mean hurling the ‘Rambo Lambo’ around isn’t riotous, tyre-torturing fun. Go kart handling? That’s a stretch, but rear-wheel steering and active anti-roll bars do make the brutish Urus respond like a smaller, lighter car. A proper road test is lined up for tomorrow.
DAY TWO (SATURDAY)
Lamborghini’s press cars are parked outside the hotel like a colourful assortment of pick-n-mix. Elbowing my way into the gaggle of journalists as keys are dished out, I’m allocated a Urus SE for the outward journey, then a Revuelto – Sant’Agata’s latest V12 supercar – for the drive back. Well, it’s probably best to start slowly…
‘Slowly’ is a relative term in an 800hp, 194mph Lamborghini, though. The plug-in hybrid Urus SE replaces the old S and Performante models, retaining their brawny 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 but adding a 25.9kWh battery and rear axle e-motor. The result is the best of all worlds: thunderous performance combined with 37 miles of silent electric range and tax-dodging CO2 emissions of 51g/km.
On the road, the Urus can play the mild-mannered family holdall, but its wild side is never far beneath the surface. Switch into Sport mode and the new electronic rear differential lets it all hang out, dialling down the stability control for ‘on-demand oversteering’. Alternatively, another click of the huge ‘tamburo’ lever selects Corsa mode, tightening the reins for greater steering precision and iron-clad body control (ideal if you happen to be chasing lap times at a go-kart track).
For all its speed and bombast, however, the Urus can’t hold a (Roman) candle to the Revuelto. If Lamborghini’s SUV is like watching the reformed Oasis in 2025, its flamboyant flagship takes you back to Knebworth in 1996, when every note felt vital. The drama starts from the moment you glimpse the exposed V12 engine, lift the trad-Lambo scissor door and twist your hips into the low-slung seat. Everything about the Revuelto feels exotic.
With a faintly ludicrous 1,015hp from its 6.5-litre engine and three electric motors – good for 0-62mph in 2.5 seconds and 217mph – the Revuelto smashes through the glass ceiling between supercar and hypercar. Find a sufficiently long straight, bury your right foot and it sucks in the road like a strand of spaghetti. But where driving a 1990s Lamborghini Diablo was like being strapped to a low-flying missile, now you feel confidently in control, helped by nuanced steering, supple damping and tenacious four-wheel-drive traction.
Back at Jerez, a test session is underway for owners of the Lamborghini Essenza SCV12. A track-only evolution of the Aventador developed by Squadra Corse, only 40 Essenzas were made – and seven of them are here at the World Finals. With my brain still scrambled by the Revuelto (appropriately, its name means ‘scrambled’ in Spanish) I lean on the pit wall, sip a strong coffee and let the primal howl of each 830hp V12 wash over me. This extreme machine makes even a Huracan Super Trofeo sound subdued.
DAY THREE (SUNDAY)
With the Lamborghini World Finals champions due to be decided, today is all about the racing. Each Super Trofeo race lasts for 50 minutes, with a compulsory pit stop around half-time that most teams will use to change drivers. Contested in professional (Pro), amateur (Am) and combined (Pro-Am) categories, the action is fast-paced and fiercely competitive.
I wander along the bustling grid, doing my best Martin Brundle impression, when one of Lamborghini’s PR team offers a ride in the Urus SE safety car. We lead out the field on its formation lap, my driver clearly pushing quite hard, but the Huracans that fill our mirrors weave back-and-forth impatiently to warm up their tyres. However fast an 800hp SUV might feel, these fully fledged race cars aren’t even breaking sweat.
After a day of daring overtakes, close calls and crunched carbon fibre, Egor Orudzhev of the Art-Line team claims the Pro title. Leipert Motorsport’s Brendon Leitch and Anthony McIntosh win in Pro-Am, while Renaud Kuppens of Boutsen VDS lifts the Am trophy. Lastly, GT3 Poland’s Holger Harmsen takes victory in the Lamborghini Cup.
The Huracan EVO2 has one year left to race before the V8-powered Temerario becomes the basis for Lamborghini’s new one-make racer in 2026. Squadra Corse might still be a minor player in motorsport, but the successful Super Trofeo series and World Finals have allowed Lamborghini to forge its own path – just as it always did. I think the late Ferruccio would have approved.