Lamborghini mulls Le Mans hypercar entry

Aventador-based SC-18 could potentially evolve into WEC top class entrant for 2021 season

Lamborghini is bidding to join Aston Martin, Toyota and Glickenhaus on the grid at Le Mans in 2021 with a new hypercar class entrant that could be based on its one-off SC-18. The Italian brand is already investigating whether evolving the Aventador-based machine would be a viable starting point for its entry, with Lamborghini boss Stefano Domenicali hinting that a decision will be made by the end of this year.

“There are discussions and we are looking to understand the regulations to see if it is of interest,” Domenicali told Autocar during the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed. “There is nothing to say until the evaluation is finished, and at that point the answer could be yes or no. For now, it is possible.”

If the company gets the go-ahead the SC-18 V12 track machine would have to face competition versions of Aston’s Valkyrie, Toyota’s GR Super Sport and the 007 hypercar set to be built by Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus. It would have to conform to the regulations of the World Endurance Championship season that begins in September 2020, where hypercar-based racing cars using hybrid powertrains will head the field in place of today’s LMP1 cars.

Domenicali said that his firm wouldn’t have the financial freedom to fund the project without using the SC-18’s track-focussed base, but it certainly looks to be a good starting point for such a machine, as it already uses aerodynamic features pinched from Lamborghini’s Huracan GT3 and its twelve cylinder has 770hp. Lambo would have to undertake the complex process of introducing a hybrid system, but it’s something that would fit with the firm’s long-term plans of naturally aspirated, hybrid road cars – and it’s not like there’s a lack of EV technology available in the VW Group.

By any standard, the prospect of Lamborghini lining up on the grid in France a little under two years from now is an exciting one. Le Mans 2021 is shaping up to be quite the race…

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