Enjoying a super weekend at Sepang with Lamborghini Super Trofeo

Lamborghini invited us as media guests to the opening round of the Super Trofeo Asia racing series for a weekend of fun in the Sepang sun.

Andiamo!

As a motoring journalist and an avid racing fan myself, I try to do as much as I can to inject myself into the motorsports scene so I can be around my passion and call it “work”. So when the call came from Lamborghini (figuratively, it was really an email) inviting us up to Sepang for a VIP experience of the Super Trofeo Asia series, I quickly declared I’d be perfect for this trip and off I went.

One early morning flight and a short car ride later, we arrived in Sepang, presented with our media passes and high-vis tabards, and shown to the hospitality lounge where all the drivers, guests, and some of us media were treated to food, drink, and most importantly in Sepang, air-conditioning.

He cook-a da pizza.

The first order of business for the day was lunch which as you might expect from an Italian brand like Lamborghini, was full of pasta and pizza which were all molto delizioso. Lamborghini prides themselves on having a wide range of scrumptious food options available at all times in their hospitality lounges at all their races and this one was no different. 

Cars forming up in the pit lane before qualifying.

Once we were stuffed to the gills, we headed on into the pitlane because it was time for the Super Trofeo racecars to leave the pits and form up on the grid for Race 1. For those unfamiliar with the Super Trofeo series, it’s a one-make racing series using the Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 racecar and organised by Lamborghini Squadra Corse, Lambo’s motorsports division. 

What exactly is Super Trofeo?

Super Trofeo was originally created in 2009 using the Gallardo as the platform for the racecar, it also featured gentlemen drivers (i.e. the bourgeoisie) who wanted to experience going wheel-to-wheel in a purpose-built Lamborghini racing car. 

The field for the 2024 Super Trofeo Asia season.

Over the years, though the gentlemen drivers continue to compete, young drivers aiming to go pro or make the factory team also compete in the series to show what they can do. The Super Trofeo series consists of four categories, Pro (the fastest guys), Pro-Am (a fast guy and an amateur), AM (only amateurs), and Lamborghini Cup (for total rookies). 

The competitors have 12 50-minute-long races over six weekends, culminating in a big final event at the Lamborghini World Final where the champions are crowned. There are three regional Super Trofeo series that run at the same time, Europe, North America, and Asia.

#88 Madness Racing Team car driven by Fangping Chen & Andre Couto.

Our weekend at Sepang was round 1 of Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia (LSTA), with the remaining rounds in Australia, South Korea, Japan, and China, before this year’s world finals in Spain.

All cars racing in Super Trofeo are identical to give as level a playing field as possible for its drivers. The only set-up changes allowed are springs, camber, tyre pressures, and front downforce. 

With the allure of the naturally-aspirated V10 engine, copious amounts of carbon fibre, and slick Hankook racing tyres too much to resist, I asked Lambo if I could get a drive in one of the racecars but at more than €220,000 a pop, the answer was a resounding super trofe-no. 

The #63 SQDA-GRIT Motorsport car of Changwoo Lee goes for a quick trip into the grass.

Driving walking around the track. 

LSTA has a strong field of 18 cars driven by 31 racers hailing from all over the world from Malaysia to Finland. On pole position for Race 1 was the #84 Absolute Racing car driven by the Kiwi duo of defending champion Marco Giltrap and series newcomer Clay Osborne. 

During the race, Lambo brought some of us media on a trackside photography tour where we got to see and appreciate the fire-breathing Huracan Super Trofeos in action up close. Our first spot was on the inside of turn 1 where we marvelled at the braking performance of these racecars, the top guys were braking from 280km/h just 150 metres before the corner, using every last bit of the huge 380mm front discs to slow the car down to make the turn. 

The #32 SJM Iron Lynx Theodore Racing car en-route to finishing P2 overall.

Then the drivers need to manage the car’s balance through the tightening radius of T1 into the hairpin of T2. Here, we could see the differences in throttle application between the drivers, the fastest guys would have noticeably more confidence and finesse on the gas, barely triggering the traction control as they rocket through the flat-out right-hander of Sepang’s turn 3.

The tour carried on through some other spots on the track and once I had gotten all the shots I needed to get, I just stood back a little and took in all the sights, sounds, and smells of these wonderful cars. I’m sure the smell inside the car is a little worse though, with cockpit temperatures easily exceeding 50 degrees Celsius and drivers losing up to three kilos of body weight from sweat alone.

No wonder the cars look so angry, they're not even on the ground!

It was a joy to be trackside to watch as the race unfolded and the gaps between the racers ebbed and flowed every lap. You can also spot the differences in driving styles, racing lines, and pedal inputs between drivers which was truly fascinating to analyse. Only when you’re up close can you appreciate just how much goes into a lap of the 5.5km Sepang International Circuit. 

The overall podium for Race 1.

Before long, we had to get back to the pitlane to attend the podium ceremonies and share in the celebrations. The #84 Giltrap/Osborne car took top honours overall and in the Pro category, with Macau Grand Prix winner Charles Leong and former W Series driver Miki Koyama finishing second in the #32 SJM Iron Lynx Theodore Racing car and the #11 Arrows Racing car of Gavin Huang and Jonathan Cecotto rounding off the Pro class podium. 

Francesco Scardaoni, Region Director for Lamborghini in the Asia Pacific.

But what's going to happen when everything goes electric? Mamma mia!

Francesco Scardaoni, Region Director for Lamborghini in the Asia Pacific, said there are no plans yet for any hybridisation or electrification of the Super Trofeo racecars with Lamborghini’s new Le Mans-going, plug-in hybrid, prototype racecar, the SC63, leading the charge for Lambo’s electrified racing strategy. 

He mentioned that although the Huracan’s hybrid roadgoing replacement will be unveiled later this year, the current Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 will still be used in the 2025 Super Trofeo series. 

It remains to be seen where Super Trofeo will go post-2025 as it will almost certainly use the Huracan’s replacement as the new platform for the racecar but, for now at least, Lamborghini seems adamant that these lovely engines aren’t going anywhere.

Big thanks to Lamborghini Singapore for inviting us out to experience a weekend with Super Trofeo and we can’t wait to be back at the track with the raging bull soon. 

Stay tuned to our TikTok page for video content from the weekend!

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