The end is seemingly near for the Lamborghini SC63 LMDh programme, or at least, the end of the 2025 season before the programme goes on a hiatus for 2026.
It leaves Romain Grosjean with mixed feelings as his three-year tenure with the project, from testing to its upcoming finale at the 28th Motul Petit Le Mans, comes to an end. But in between, he’s determined to make the most of the SC63’s first Evo “joker” update at an Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course where he’s been so successful individually.
“I mean, I’m sad, right? Because we’ve been building it, and we’ve been getting better and better,” Grosjean lamented. “Riley has been doing a fantastic job [running the SC63]. Lamborghini has been bringing updates that have been working good on the car. It’s a bit of a shame to see that it’s getting paused.
“But I think all we can do right now is just to get the last two races, make the most of it, and then that’s it.”
And it appears that these could be his last races with Lamborghini as a factory driver, as Grosjean admitted that he has less of an appetite for going GT3 racing full-time next year – when Lamborghini does limited rollout of the new Temerario GT3 – versus a potential return to the IndyCar Series, or remaining in prototypes, either in GTP or even LMP2.
“I think GT is not really my cup of tea; it’s not where I like to drive. I really enjoy the prototype. I really enjoyed IndyCar. GT for a race, why not? But full-time is not something that I would pursue more than that.
“LMP2 with a good team could be something. I think that the main goal is INDYCAR and finding somewhere to do the endurance races in IMSA. Of course, it’s a tough thing: Most of the GTPs are locked in, but you never know.
Grosjean gave the SC63’s rear suspension update, aimed at improving tyre wear and warm-up, as well as making the car more compliant, a positive evaluation.
He went eighth-quickest in Practice 1 on Friday, then went fourth-quickest in Practice 2 earlier this morning.
That serves Grosjean – and co-driver Edoardo Mortara – well at a track where he drove the previous-spec SC63, run at the time by Iron Lynx, from tenth to the lead in the rain-soaked opening hours of last year’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks.
And going back to his first partial season in the NTT INDYCAR Series, Grosjean scored his first pole position and first podium at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Grand Prix circuit back in 2021. Two of his six career INDYCAR podiums from 2021 to 2024 came at the 3.9-kilometre, 14-corner circuit.
“It’s definitely going in the right direction,” he said of the car’s development. “It’s the first ‘joker’ that we’ve used. There’s probably room for some more if we were to carry on, but as of now, it’s a good help and I’m excited about it.”
“Of course Indy, being very smooth, it’s probably not the place that you feel it the most. But in Petit Le Mans, at the last corner last year, it was like Mount Everest every lap! And this year when we went testing, it was a lot smoother, so it worked.
“At Petit, definitely there would be a big change. Sebring would have been a big change. Places like Daytona and Indy, probably a little less – just because it’s smooth, maybe over a long run we should be better on tyre degradation. So we’ll see after 30-plus laps, where we are.”
He had an exceptional performance during the middle stages of the Sahlen’s Six Hours at the Glen, inheriting the lead and staying at the front on pure pace through what Grosjean described as “37 qualifying laps in a row.” Grosjean and Daniil Kvyat were denied a top-five finish due to a late fuel stop.
There’s still two more chances for the SC63 to get achieve what Grosjean says is the goal for these last races – a goal that everyone at Lamborghini and Riley would agree with: “Let’s try to have one podium, that would be good.”
Images © Jack Webster / dailysportscar.com
