INSIGHT: Who’s Who in the Lamborghini LMDh Program

A look into the key players of the Lamborghini Iron Lynx LMDh effort that's set to debut in 2024...

In early November, Lamborghini made the long-awaited announcement that it will partner with Italian team Iron Lynx for its 2024 LMDh program. They will combine to form a new racing team called Lamborghini Iron Lynx that will enter the full FIA World Endurance Championship season and selected IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races.

But unlike some other top-level factory teams like the in-house Peugeot and Toyota WEC operations, the Lamborghini project is based on a synergy of entities. It is an intricate setup uniting the inputs of different organizations bonded by historical ties.

Moreover, it goes beyond a simple linking of arms between a manufacturer and one racing team. To the wider public, the Lamborghini effort will be seen as just that when it takes to the starting grid. But the reality is that it will be the result of several organizations working together as one unit.

Lamborghini Squadra Corse

The racing arm of the luxury Italian sports car maker has been active since 2013. Squadra Corse is led by former supercar test driver Giorgio Sanna who has been the global Head of Motorsport since 2015, having joined Lamborghini almost 20 years ago.

The organization runs Lamborghini’s extensive customer racing program with Super Trofeo and GT3 models based on the Huracan road car. It has grown over the years to service more customer teams around the world and has increased its independence in terms of car development, having previously leaned heavily on Audi technology during its early GT3 days.

Creating a LMDh car based on the Ligier spine is arguably Squadra Corse’s steepest challenge to date, not least because of the pressure associated with going up against the likes of Toyota, Peugeot, Ferrari and Porsche. The technological step is significant, considering this will be Lamborghini’s first hybrid racing car, using the cost capped LMDh package required in all cars.

Sanna has previously explained that the LMDh race team won’t be a factory squad in the traditional sense where everything is paid for by the manufacturer. In this case, there is an element of financial contribution from the Iron Lynx side, however the amount is undisclosed.

Nonetheless, Lamborghini Iron Lynx is still aiming to operate to the level of a factory team, coalescing top minds from Squadra Corse with those of the other partners.

Iron Lynx

The LMDh program brings Iron Lynx full circle with Lamborghini, which is based only 70 miles away from the team’s Cesena home. Founded by former drivers Andrea Piccini and Sergio Pianezzola, Iron Lynx’s first season was in the 2018 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe, although its programs quickly shifted to Ferrari which enabled it to contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the WEC and the European Le Mans Series with GTE machinery.

After leaning on external help from AF Corse in running its entries, Iron Lynx became more independent over the last couple of seasons and increased its staff count. Switching to Lamborghini is evidence of its growing autonomy, although its track activities with the raging bull, including the LMDh venture, will be imbued in factory partnership.

Next year Iron Lynx will run Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2s in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup and Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS. It is also aiming to continue in GTE but has confirmed that it won’t do so with Ferrari.

At the same time, Iron Lynx and Lamborghini Squadra Corse will build the LMDh team and go testing. The precise personnel structure is to be determined, although one Iron Lynx source has said that there will be a “good injection” of people from Squadra Corse.

The intention is to build a team together, utilizing the best talent from different sides, rather than having Iron Lynx simply lend its name and some people to an otherwise factory-only effort.

Prema Engineering

Founded this year, Prema Engineering is the newest of the organizations involved in the LMDh project. Prema as a racing team was established in 1983 and is today well-known for its huge single seater program that has been integral to the early careers of many a Formula 1 star.

But Prema Engineering is a separate entity within the Prema Group that aims to provide third-party technical support and engineering-based consultancy to clients. It emerges from a history of Prema running the Mumbai Falcons single-seater team and the Florida Winter Series grid, among others.

Prema Engineering is captained by the same people as the racing outfit: at the helm are team principal Rene Rosin, who led the European Le Mans Series title-winning LMP2 program this year, and technical director Guillaume Capietto. But they also plan to build Prema Engineering’s own core group of dedicated staff that will be able to focus on different strains of consulting work.

Furthermore, they can call upon race team personnel depending on the individual requirements of each arrangement. Prema Engineering will slot into the LMDh program by providing technical assistance to Lamborghini Iron Lynx. It's likely that lessons from Prema’s LMP2 stint with an Oreca 07 Gibson will be applied, considering Lamborghini’s inexperience as a prototype manufacturer.

Exactly how many Prema Engineering people will end up in the Lamborghini Iron Lynx garage at Le Mans remains to be seen, but the background contributions are set to be significant.

DC Racing Solutions

The name of this Swiss group has appeared in some announcements related to the Iron Lynx-Prema partnership and, most recently, the Lamborghini LMDh program. DC Racing Solutions is the glue holding a key aspect of the project together considering it owns Iron Lynx and the majority of Prema.

Its name is taken from the forenames of two board members: Deborah Mayer, who previously worked in private and investment banking and founded the Iron Dames female driver project; and Claudio Schiavoni who has driven for Iron Lynx in the WEC.

DCRS was established in July 2017, at roughly the same time as its subsidiary Iron Lynx. It then purchased the majority stake in Prema Group during the summer of 2021. Part of Prema is still owned by the Rosin family.

Maintaining the family’s position in the business, based on the deep-rooted industry connections between the Rosins and management figures at Iron Lynx, was an important clause in DCRS’ involvement, leading to a partnership with Lamborghini based around the LMDh Program. 

Ligier Automotive

The French constructor was announced as the chassis partner for Lamborghini’s LMDh project in June, but the two parties had already been working together for a while.

Lamborghini is Ligier’s only confirmed LMDh client, which perhaps gives the former an advantage over fellow 2024 Hypercar entrant Alpine which has exercized patience while its chassis partner ORECA prioritizes the January debut of the Acura ARX-06.

Lamborghini recently posted teasers of its unnamed LMDh car design on social media, following the completion of high-speed wind tunnel tests. The chevron-shaped front end is reminiscent of both the Lamborghini Essenza SCV12 and Ligier’s 825-horsepower JS PX special edition prototype that was launched 12 months ago.

As with other LMDh projects, the task is to create something that is both practical for the task and a statement for Lamborghini’s brand image.

The next milestone will be the car’s first rollout, which all parties are hoping will be made as soon as possible next year to maximize testing time ahead of homologation for the 2024 season.