DTM champion Mirko Bortolotti has conceded he will probably be “unhappy” when the “particular” Lamborghini Huracan GT3 bows out of lively service and is changed by the brand new Temerario mannequin for 2026.
Apart from 2020, when he had a brief stint at sister model Audi earlier than returning to Lamborghini, Bortolotti has been a fixture aboard the automotive which is now on its second Evo improve cycle since its debut in 2015.
The 34-year-old, one in every of its unique improvement drivers, claimed his maiden DTM title this 12 months within the Huracan, his newest accolade with the automotive that features successful the 2017 Blancpain Endurance Sequence title and taking back-to-back GTD class wins on the Daytona 24 Hours in 2018-19.
Chatting with Motorsport.com, Bortolotti admitted that he’ll miss the 5.2-litre usually aspirated V10-powered Huracan GT3 EVO2 after its prolonged tenure, with GT3 vehicles not too long ago turning in direction of turbocharged engines.
“Now there’s nothing left that we have to show with this automotive,” mirrored the Italian, who noticed off Abt Audi driver Kelvin van der Linde to be topped DTM champion after ending runner-up to Porsche’s Thomas Preining in 2023.
“I am actually happy with the work that is been completed on the Huracan in 2014, the beginning of improvement along with Audi again within the days.
“It is for me a extremely particular automotive that modified my profession; it gave me an entire new imaginative and prescient of motorsport, an entire new future coming into this programme and it is a actually particular automotive to me, so it is unhappy on one hand to see her go on the finish of subsequent season.
#19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2: Franck Perera, Jordan Pepper, Jordan Pepper, Mirko Bortolotti
Picture by: Artwork Fleischmann
“Additionally it is so attribute, the V10 aspirated and stuff. I’ll positively miss it.”
As introduced earlier this 12 months, the GT3 iteration of the Temerario will start testing subsequent 12 months earlier than making its race bow in 2026.
The highway mannequin is powered by a twin-turbo V8 engine, and Bortolotti anticipates that “not many components that may be corresponding to the present Huracan”.
Requested what he wished to see from the Temerario, Bortolotti mentioned “It is nonetheless too early for me to present you a solution on what we’re specializing in”.
Bortolotti additionally spent 2024 racing within the Hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship with Lamborghini’s new SC63 LMDh prototype, nevertheless it was introduced final week that the Italian model is not going to return to the WEC subsequent 12 months, though it plans to proceed with the SC63 within the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
Uncertainty additionally surrounds the way forward for the SSR Efficiency workforce Bortolotti has raced with for the previous two seasons within the DTM.
Requested about his hopes of defending his title in 2025, Bortolotti mentioned “There are lots of subjects on the desk which might be in favour of DTM” however maintained it was too early to make a agency dedication.
“If there’s a likelihood and the curiosity of getting me again, attempting to defend it, in fact, I am greater than eager to do it, as a result of DTM is a extremely particular championship,” he mentioned.
“If there’s a likelihood to be again combating for it once more, I’d positively not say no. However in the meanwhile, I can’t give a solution on that.”
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