Kvyat: Lamborghini can target WEC wins next year with car upgrades

Kvyat sees potential in Lamborghini’s LMDh challenger, but stresses that upgrades are necessary after the car underwent a less-than-ideal testing programme

Former Formula 1 driver Daniil Kvyat believes Lamborghini can challenge for victories in the World Endurance Championship in 2025 by upgrading the SC63 LMDh.

Lamborghini joined the Hypercar class of the WEC this year with a single car entered on a factory basis by Iron Lynx and raced by Kvyat, Mirko Bortolotti and Edoardo Mortara.

The Italian marque’s best result of the year is a 10th-place finish, achieved at the Le Mans 24 Hours centrepiece race in June against a larger grid of 23 Hypercar entries.

Kvyat said he was content with the performance of Lamborghini in the WEC so far, but stressed that it needs to bring in new developments to the SC63 in order to fight at the front next year.

He revealed that the race to get the car homologated in time for its debut in the WEC and the IMSA SportsCar Championship in March meant that not all parts that went on the car were optimised for performance.

Thus, updates - potentially by invoking some of the five evo jokers allowed to Lamborghini under the initial five-year lifespan of the SC63 - are necessary over the winter break in order to close the gap to the frontrunners.

“There is a lot of work to do, but it's our first year, we don't have to forget it,” said Kvyat.

“We had a very short testing programme before starting the season. A lot of areas that had to be homologated were quite raw and maybe not performance-optimised.

“We did a very clean Le Mans, which was very good for the team. And now our first Hyperpole [at Fuji] because we have always been missing pace [previously]. Finally, we were really able to tick that box.  

“It means we can do it and I would say [think about] what we can do with improvements. 

“We have to bring updates and then we can fight for top five and wins. I hope. That's the goal, it's my target. 

“I don't give discounts to anyone. I'm demanding in that respect.”

The 2024 WEC will conclude with an eight-hour fixture at the Bahrain International Circuit, a track known for its abrasive nature and high-tyre degradation.

Lamborghini had shown encouraging signs at the previous round in Japan with Kvyat qualifying the car inside the top 10, but the 30-year-old is keeping a lid on his expectations for the title decider. 

“We will see; again, we are unfortunately in a place where we cannot say okay we are able to do things consistently, we are able to perform consistently,” he remarked.

“There are a lot of things that need to be analysed and so on why the performance is there [at Fuji] and so on. So we really need to be very careful with our analysis. 

“Of course, in Bahrain, we cannot have too many expectations. I do not expect anything different in terms of the performance package we have. So zero pressure.”