Mortara, Cairoli join Lamborghini for Jerez LMDh test

Formula E ace Edoardo Mortara and Nurburgring 24 Hours winner Matteo Cairoli have tested for Lamborghini as the Italian manufacturer evaluates them for its 2024 LMDh programme.

Both Mortara and Cairoli got their first runs behind the wheel of the under-development SC63 LMDh car at a recently test organised at the Jerez circuit in Spain.

Motorsport.com understands that no contract has been signed with either Mortara or Cairoli, but Lamborghini is looking at them to fill the remaining seats in its driver line-up for both the World Endurance Championship and the endurance leg of the IMSA SportsCar Championship.

Lamborghini currently has Romain Grosjean, Andrea Caldarelli, Daniil Kvyat and Mirko Bortolotti under contract for next year, with two more drivers yet to be signed for its six-strong roster.

Mortara is best known for his time in single-seaters in Formula E, but also enjoyed a long stint in DTM during its Class 1 days, first with Audi and then Mercedes. He finished second in the 2016 standings while driving for Abt, only beaten to the title by Marco Wittmann, who is expected to be a part of BMW’s WEC programme next year.

Mortara has spent the last few seasons competing with Venturi/Maserati in FE, but will move to Mahindra next year after a frustrating 2023 campaign with the Monaco-based outfit.

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Edoardo Mortara, Maserati Racing

Cairoli, on the other hand, has spent the majority of his racing career with Porsche in GT ranks, and is currently racing for Project 1 in WEC’s GTE Am class, which will be axed next year in favour of the new LMGT3 division.

The Jerez test follows Grosjean and Caldarelli putting the Lamborghini car through its paces at Almeria in southern Spain last week. The two drivers logged over 2000km between them and focused on reliability and data collection, with a view to developing the car for 2024.

It marked the first proper run for Lamborghini's LMDh car after a major crash for Bortolotti at Paul Ricard in August halted the marque's testing programme.

Testing is expected to continue over the next few months in Europe, and Lamborghini also has plans to run the car in the US “very soon”.

The Lamborghini SC63 will make its race debut in WEC’s Qatar season opener in early March, and its first IMSA appearance is expected to follow just weeks later at Sebring.

The Volkswagen Group brand will field one car each in WEC and IMSA’s Michelin-sponsored Endurance Cup (but not the season-opening Daytona 24 Hours), with Iron Lynx fronting its effort.