He FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) It continues with its expansion both geographically, in 2024 there will be 8 races spread across Asia, Europe and America, as well as manufacturers. Already in this 2023 they landed Ferrari, Porsche, Cadillac and vanwallto join Toyota, gilckenhaus and Peugeot. And for the next season they will arrive Alpinewho showed his Hypercar during the past 24 Hours of Le Mans, bmwwhich runs in the IMSAand this thursday Lamborghini has introduced a new beast for the grill: The SC63an LMDh with which they will compete both in North America as in the world.
The framework chosen to present the car has been the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The creature is born of association of the corse squad with iron lynx to put on track a Lambirghini with which they hope to be competitive in their debut, as explained Rouven Mohr, Lamborghini technical director, in a meeting via videoconference with a small group of Spanish press. Mohr avoided commenting on when the car will be seen on track in its first tests or on the full line-up of its crew. In the development of SC63 the official pilots of Lamborghini Mirko Bortolotti and Andrea Caldarellialong with the new official additions Daniel Kvyat and Romain Grosjean. The rest, in due course and throughout 2023.
A project like this for the SC63, “the most advanced racing car ever produced by Lamborghini and which follows the brand’s roadmap for the electrification of its range of products”, in the words of Stephan Winkelman, CEO of the brand, requires firm steps. “The opportunity to compete in some of the world’s biggest endurance races with a hybrid concept fits with our vision of the future of high-performance mobility, as demonstrated in the case of road-legal cars with the launch of the Scrambled. The SC63 LMDh it is the step towards the higher echelons and towards the future of motorsports for our Squad Corse”, sentence Winkelman.
The power of the engine and the hybrid system, which is standard on all cars in the category LMDhis limited by regulation to 500kW (680 hp). The LMDh standard specifies a gearbox, a battery and a motor-generator unit (UGM) standard to contain expenses. For the chassis, the Italians have opted to work with light and they will be the first to mount that monocoque, in which they have been able to ‘customize the design of the front suspension and weight distribution.
The design of the bodywork, the work of the design department style center of Lamborghiniis intended to make recognizable the SC63 as Lamborghini and even incorporates an air intake from the Countdown. And a Y-shaped lighting group is incorporated. The set is completed by the green color reminiscent of the Hurricane GT3 and will have details of the Italian flag. With Ferrari there will be a derby in the WECsomething that Mohr he accepts with humor and willingly. He sees it as something positive, since the expectation for the championship will be increased.
“Our LMDh car, the Lamborghini SC63, is an exciting challenge. The development of our internal combustion engine, aerodynamically efficient bodywork and overall technical package is a process that has pushed us to constantly raise our own standards. Now, the time has come to literally put the wheels in motion on the track to be ready and competitive in the 2024 season. As we develop our LMDh car, we are also aware of the technology transfer opportunities. We will take our learning experiences from motorsport and apply them where possible to our future production cars.” Rouven Mohr.
In this learning process, they will be able to benefit from competing in the two most important endurance championships in the world, the IMSA of North America and the WEC. In 2024, each of the two SC63s will share the functions, one in each discipline, with synergies, despite the double effort that it may entail for the factories and teams, and the transfer of experience as benefits for the Italian squad.
The other manufacturers in 2024
In addition to Lamborghini, the next season of the WEC will have the confirmed presences of Alpine and BMW in the highest category. isotta fraschinia historic manufacturer from Milan, also intends to sign up, although it must first resolve red tape regarding approvals for its Type 6 LMH.
The French, for their part, already have LMDh: the Alpine A424 shown last June at Le Mans looks impressive, it maintains an easily recognizable decoration. For the chassis they have maintained their collaboration with Oreca, as in their time in LMP1 and this season they are running in the LMP2 category. The A424 is scheduled to be put on the track next August for the first tests and the first real kilometres. “The Alpine A424 is destined to challenge the biggest from next year. True to our values, this new prototype projects the brand into the future”, explained the CEO of Alpine, Laurent Rossi.
The German factory, for its part, is already competing with its BMW M Hybrid V8, another LMDh in IMSA, where it achieved its first major success in the top flight at Watkins Glen. For its landing in the World Cup, the Munich house has recently developed a test program for Aragon. Several official drivers were behind the wheel, but Andrea Roos, head of competition, has commented that they will take their time to complete their line-ups.
