One year after blazing its trail in European racing->ke447, the 2015 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 will finally make its North American GT3 racing debut in 2016 after a handful of teams confirmed their intention to race in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona (GTD) class with the new Lambo->ke44 race car->ke148. The Huracan GT3's maiden racing run in the series will take place in the season-opening race -- the Rolex 24 at Daytona -- on January 30 and 31, 2016.

The arrival of the Huracan GT3 comes at an opportune time for customer teams, thanks in part to the adoption of the 2016 FIA GT3 specifications for all of its entries in the GTD class. Change Racing and O’Gara Motorsports are the first two teams that plan to use a Huracan GT3 next season. The two racing outfits are known for their involvement in the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo North America, the one-make Lamborghini racing series that’s now in its third season. Change Racing, in particular, has been involved in the series since its inception in 2013, winning the first two seasons of the series on top of claiming the 2014 Pro-Am Super Trofeo World Finals title.

Likewise, O’Gara Motorsport has also been involved with the Super Trofeo North America from the very beginning and is on its way to claiming its first series victory in three years. Another team, Europe-based Konrad Motorsport, will also race in the 24 Hours of Daytona with a Huracan GT3.

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Why it matters

The Lamborghini Huracan GT3 has proven to be a force to be reckoned with in GT3 racing, having already proven its worth as a formidable race car in the Blancpain Endurance Series in Europe, including taking home the checkered flag in the season-opening race at Monza in April 2015. The race car's returns have been great for Lamborghini, which counts the Huracan GT3 as its first fully engineered racer, having previously partnered with Reiter Engineering in the development of its predecessors.

The Italian automaker is now looking to replicate that kind of success when the Huracan GT3 racer makes its first GT3 run in North America in 2016. I don’t want to get too far ahead and immediately proclaim that the race car will have immediate success in the GTD class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT series, but I am excited to see what it's capable of against a field of worthy competitors that include some of the best GT3 race cars to come from Porsche->ke1, Ford->ke31, and Audi->ke14, among others.

If the Huracan GT3 can live up to the standards set by its predecessor, the Gallardo GT3, I wouldn’t be too worried about the new Lamborghini race car’s competitive chances in the 2016 North American GT3 racing season. A lot will depend on how it does in Daytona, but I’m confident that, one or way or the other, it’s going to make a huge splash next season.

2015 Lamborghini Huracan GT3

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