Lamborghini motorsport boss Sanna departs
Gary Watkins
Mar 14, 2024, 11:29 AM
Upd:
Mar 14, 2024, 12:01 PM
The 48-year-old has been replaced on an interim basis by Rouven Mohr, who will fulfil his new responsibilities alongside his duties as chief technical officer of the overall Lamborghini organisation.
The move was announced by the Italian manufacturer on Thursday in a short statement that gave no insight into the reasons for Sanna’s departure.
It follows Sanna’s absence from this month’s World Endurance Championship season-opener in Qatar, the debut of Lamborghini’s new SC63 LMDh prototype, for what was described at the time as personal reasons.
Sanna can be regarded as the architect of Lamborghini’s move to the pinnacle of sportscar racing with the SC63 developed in conjunction with Ligier Automotive.
His determination got the project across the line in the spring of 2022 after various false starts over the previous two years.
A plan to link up with Dallara Automobili on an LMDh is understood to have failed to get board approval in 2020 and then a proposed link-up with Volkswagen group LMDh project that resulted in Porsche’s 963 faltered.
The SC63, which will race in the full WEC this season and the IMSA SportsCar Championship enduros starting with this weekend’s Sebring 12 Hours, made a low-key debut at the Qatar 1812 km.
The car run by the Iron Lynx factory team was the slowest in qualifying of the cars fielded by major manufacturers in the Hypercar class.
#63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63: Mirko Bortolotti, Edoardo Mortara, Daniil Kvyat
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
It went on to finish the race in the hands of Mirko Bortolotti, Edoardo Mortara and Daniil Kvyat in 14th position, five laps down on the winning Porsche.
Sanna began working for Lamborghini as a test driver for its road car research and development division in 2001 while still an active racing driver.
He joined the new in-house Lamborghini Squadra Corse motorsport department in January 2015 as its first boss.
Sanna went on to oversee the manufacturer’s successes with three versions of the Huracan GT3 as well as its activities with the one-make Super Trofeo racer.
His credits as a driver include title successes in the 2011 Italian GT Championship GT3 class driving a Lamborghini Gallardo for Team Imperiale and in GT Am in the 2014 Asian Le Mans Series with Emperor Racing, also in a Reiter Engineering-developed Gallardo.
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