► First sight of Lambo’s 2024 hybrid racer
► Packs a V8 twin-turbo hybrid engine
► All the latest tech news and info
You’re looking at the new 2024 Lamborghini LMDh prototype racer – the new breed of hybrid sports cars that’ll be competing in endurance racing two years from now.
If you’re wondering why many car brands are piling into the new Le Mans Daytona hybrid classification, check out our handy LMDh explainer here.
Lambo, along with BMW, Porsche, Audi and others, will be competing in the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship and the GTP class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Lamborghini LMDh prototype: what to expect
This shadowy teaser photograph above is our first full sighting of Sant’Agata’s hybrid racer – and the Italian supercar brand has given a few technical nuggets away to whet our appetites, too.
It’s the fruits of Squadra Corse, Lamborghini’s inhouse race team dedicated to motorsport ventures. The petrol V8 twin-turbo hybrid is the first engine to be developed by them.
LMDh is designed to be a little cheaper for manufacturers to compete in and FIA rules dictate that the hybrid power unit and class-standard energy recovery system can have a system output of no more than 500kW (a perfectly adequate 671bhp).
Lamborghini has confirmed its engine is a 90-degree V8 with twin-turbos – and is at pains to point out that the technical knowledge gained on track will help hybridise the road car range too (developed under the Italians’ new Cor Tauri strategy).
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LMDh endurance racing: shared technologies
The 2024 Lamborghini LMDh prototype will use a chassis made with partners Ligier Automotive and carbonfibre specialist HP Composites (one of four chassis suppliers mandated by world endurance authorities). It’ll be light – 1030kg (dry) – and capable of hitting 211mph down the Mulsanne Straight, according to Lambo engineers’ projections.
The LMDh class is designed to cap spend in a bid to make competing in endurance racing more affordable for manufacturers. So many parts are shared under the skin, including the Bosch electric motor, Williams Advanced Engineering batteries and energy management systems, and the seven-speed P1359 hybrid gearbox developed by Xtrac.
Stephan Winkelmann, Lamborghini chairman and CEO (white shirt, third from left), said: ‘This step up into the highest echelon of sports car racing marks an important milestone for our company. We will be measuring ourselves against the very best, on the most demanding proving grounds. On one hand, this will give our successful motorsports programme even more visibility, but it will also allow us to test future technologies: our LMDh prototypes will become our most sophisticated open laboratory on four wheels.’
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