High Expectations for Lamborghini Squadra Corse at 24 Hours at Daytona Debut - Speedway Digest

Lamborghini Squadra Corse will start its 2016 race season with the Lamborghini Huracán GT3’s debut in the prestigious 24 Hours at Daytona this weekend, Jan. 28-31, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The V10 powered Huracán GT3 was born from a desire to offer factory-built and supported cars to customers worldwide. It is the first GT3 car to be fully engineered, developed and assembled internally by Automobili Lamborghini.

Five Lamborghini Huracán GT3’s will represent Lamborghini in the GT Daytona (GTD) class, the largest of the four classes competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener. The five entries also represent the largest representation by any manufacturer in the GTD class.

Expectations are high for the Huracán GT3 following a successful year of debuts in 2015 in Europe. The No. 19 car driven by Fabio Babini, Andrew Palmer and Jeroen Mul won the Blancpain Endurance debut at the Three Hours of Monza in May 2015.

Another victory followed in the ADAC GT Masters at the Red Bull Ring Circuit in June by the GRT Grasser Racing Team and a third-place finish in a Blancpain Sprint Series debut in October.

Team/Driver Lineup:

O’Gara Motorsport (No. 11): Townsend Bell (USA), Bill Sweedler (USA), Edoardo Piscopo (ITA), Richard Antinucci (ITA)

Change Racing (No. 16): Spencer Pumpelly (USA), Justin Marks (USA), Kaz Grala (USA), Corey Lewis (USA)

Konrad Motorsport (No. 21): Emanuele Busnelli (ITA), Jim Michaelian (USA)

Konrad Motorsport (No. 28): Rolf Ineichen (CHE), Lance Willsey (USA), Franz Konrad (AUT), Marc Basseng (DEU), Fabio Babini (ITA)

Paul Miller Racing (No. 48): Bryan Sellers (USA), Madison Snow (USA), Bryce Miller (USA), Mirko Bortolotti (ITA)

Event Details:

Name: 24 Hours of Daytona

Date: Thursday, Jan. 28-Sunday, Jan. 31. Practice and qualifying, Thursday, Jan. 28; Practice, Friday, Jan. 29; Race start, 2:40 p.m. (ET) Saturday, Jan. 30.

Track: Daytona International Speedway, 12-turn, 3.56-mile (5.73 km) circuit combining high-banked oval, infield road circuit

Duration: 24 hours

Television (USA, all times Eastern):

2-4 p.m. Saturday:	Fox Sports 1
4-10 p.m. Saturday:	Fox Sports 2
10 p.m. Saturday – 7 a.m. Sunday:	IMSA.TV
7-10:30 a.m. Sunday:	Fox Sports 1
10:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. Sunday:	Fox Sports 2
1-2 p.m. Sunday:	Fox Sports 1

Noteworthy:

Lamborghini factory driver Mirko Bortolotti will drive for Paul Miller Racing, bringing experience and success in the Huracán GT3 competition. He joined the Blancpain Endurance Series as a Lamborghini Squadra Corse official driver with the Grasser Racing Team in 2015, gaining two pole positions at Paul Ricard and also at the Nürburgring with the Lamborghini Huracán GT3. He also was involved in the win in the ADAC GT Masters debut at the Red Bull Ring and in two podium finishes in the Blancpain Sprint Series at Misano.

Fabio Babini, another Lamborghini factory driver, will compete with Konrad Motorsport in the No. 28 Huracán GT3. Babini was involved in the Blancpain Endurance Series debut win as well as the 24 Hours of Spa attempt with Grasser Racing Team last July.

Change Racing will run the No. 16 to celebrate the centennial of Ferruccio Lamborghini’s birth, on April 1916.

Konrad Motorsport, Change Racing and O’Gara Motorsport all have climbed to the GTD class from the Lamborghini Super Trofeo championship. Konrad competes in the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Europe series, while Change Racing and O’Gara Motorsport have fielded multiple entries in the North American series over its three-year existence.

O’Gara Motorsport is the reigning Super Trofeo North America team champion. Richard Antinucci is the reigning North American driver champion and will complete the O’Gara lineup along with his 2015 teammate, Edoardo Piscopo, who is the 2014 Super Trofeo Europe champion.

Change Racing driver Corey Lewis, a member of the GT3 Young Drivers Program, holds the title of 2015 North American and World Final Pro-Am driver champion. This will be his debut in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Konrad Motorsport will field two Lamborghini GT3’s. The team’s debut in the 24 Hours at Daytona is the first of four events it plans to run in the Tequila Patròn North American Endurance Cup.

Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler have been named as the full-season drivers for O’Gara Motorsport’s No. 11. Bell and Sweedler are the reigning GTD class champions.

Paul Miller Racing has a history of success in the GTD class at the 24 Hours of Daytona. The team has two top-three GTD finishes in the last two years.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.