Lamborghini reveals details of WEC, IMSA LMDh challenger's first full test

The Lamborghini SC63 LMDh began the test on Thursday when it was photographed in action by Motorsport.com and continued testing into Friday with Andrea Caldarelli, Mirko Bortolotti and Daniil Kvyat carrying out driving duties.

It was the second test for a car that will begin racing in 2024: the SC63 was given a shakedown at Vallelunga at the start of this month.

The car was run by a combination of crew from the Lamborghini Squadra Corse in-house motorsport department and the Iron Lynx squad that will exclusively field the car in the full WEC and the long-distance IMSA races next year.

A brief statement from Lamborghini said that the focus of the test at Imola was on calibration and data acquisition.

That included the first track development of the bespoke 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 developed by Squadra Corse for the SC63.

Further tests are planned at Paul Ricard and then Spa-Francorchamps over the remainder of August.

Lamborghini is planning to move its test programme to the US as early as September when the second chassis comes on stream.

The SC63, developed on the spine of the next-generation Ligier LMP2 chassis, is scheduled to make its race debut at the opening round of the WEC in Qatar early next March.

Lamborghini SC63 LMDh

Photo by: Lamborghini S.p.A.

Lamborghini has stated that it doesn’t expect to take part in the first of next year’s five North American Endurance Cup rounds of the IMSA series at Daytona in January.

That means its US debut will be at the Sebring 12 Hours two weeks after Qatar.

Four drivers have so far been announced for the twin-pronged programme: Romain Grosjean was absent from last week’s Imola test because he was racing for Andretti Autosport in the IndyCar Series on the Indianapolis road course.

Lamborghini stated on the launch of the SC63 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July that it had already filled the remaining two seats.

One of those drivers is believed to have been Mercedes GT star Raffaele Marciello, but it is now expected that he will join BMW for its LMDh programme with the M Hybrid V8.