Having read our first drive review of the Lamborghini Urus SE by my esteemed colleague Michael Teo Van Runkel last year, I was keen to sample for myself what’s promised by this hybridized version of the Raging Bull’s super SUV. While Michael had California’s thrilling canyon roads and off-road playgrounds available, I had a trip from Miami Beach (where this Verde Citrea example really felt right at home when it came to head-turning the tourists) to the depths of deepest central Florida that is Sebring International Raceway – probably as flat-as-a-pancake route as you can find across America.
My mission at Sebring was to witness Lambo’s new Temerario GT3 car make its world debut (pictured below) in the fabled 12-hour race, which is renowned as one of the toughest endurance challenges in all of world motorsports. It was my second visit to the old World War II airbase, so I knew what to expect from its signature once-around-the-clock event, which has been won by some of the greatest names in sports car racing.
My first pleasant surprise was just how far the Urus SE would make it on electric-only power. Despite not taking full advantage of the recharge mode in the stop-start I-95 journey from my place on the Beach to Golden Glades, which is its own level of hell thanks to never-ending construction works, I make is as far as the Port Everglades Expressway – almost 40 miles into my journey, before the V8 engine finally bursts into life. In fact, despite knowing it was going to happen, the battery running down to the red actually triggered my inner range anxiety voice to the point I pulled to the inside lane just in case it rendered me powerless!
Fear not, the twin-turbo Lamborghini V8 (which carries over from ICE-only Urus models, albeit detuned to “just” 612 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque) duly fires up with a meaty growl, and I’m able to continue my journey with added engine noise. Making the Urus a plug-in hybrid SUV makes the most sense for Lambo, offering improved fuel economy, silent driving, and better range in full EV mode, plus only modest weight gains that make less of a difference in a 5,000-pound five-seater than for one of its low-slung supercars.
This traditional plug-in employs a 25.9-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery below the trunk. The electric motor, which is mounted within the eight-speed transmission, can contribute 189 horsepower and a beefy 356 lb-ft of torque. All of which results in combined totals of 789 horsepower and 701 lb-ft at full throttle, the latter way down in the rev range at just 1,750 rpm.
Back to my journey, and my relief at having V8 power at my disposal soon gave way to the boredom of US-27, a dual carriageway that cuts north-east away from Alligator Alley, across to the center of Florida from the southeast. With only the odd randomly-driven truck entering the highway from Heaven-knows-what-they’re-farming-out-there on the fringes of the Everglades wilderness, the journey only gets mildly interesting as it begins to meander around Lake Okeechobee and onwards through Lake Placid (not the famous Olympic one) to Sebring.
Away from the traffic lights, I discover the fun of Sport and Corsa modes (as opposed to regular Strada) that allows this car to rocket away effortlessly at the green. It also crackles and growls its way as I get to the racetrack, where this mean green machine gets plenty of attention – just like it did in Miami. But this time, it includes folks wearing firesuits as I cruise behind the pits, then park up in the middle of the paddock.
At the track, we’re treated to a walkaround of the all-new Pfaff Motorsports-run Temerario GT3, which is in a state of undress under the team’s awning. After driver Andrea Caldarelli felt a hiccup during gear changes in qualifying, the transmission of the car is separated from the engine, which itself is being worked on as the team prepares for the gruelling race ahead. Engineers move hither and thither as I intrude on their space to snap photos and video.
We’re given a run-through of the amazing steering wheel that Caldarelli and his teammates, Franck Perera and Sandy Mitchell, will take it in turns to grasp. “The cockpit is entirely new for the Temerario,” says Caldarelli of the Huracán’s replacement. “It’s focused on driver comfort and accessibility. The new steering wheel has five rotaries, which means you can open up many pages on the dashboard and navigate with the plus and minus buttons, so everything we need to modify on the car we can now do it from these controls, to avoid us using the main console.
“There is a lot of technology inside a modern-day GT3 car,” he explains of the newest of them all. “It’s important for the driver to be able to control every setting. Of course, the most important button for us is the headlight, to flash the car in front – and annoy everyone else!”
Four buttons at the top of the wheel each have shields to avoid accidental use, for obvious reasons: start, kill, pit limiter, and full-course yellow (another speed limiting device) used during caution periods – the speed of the latter pair can be controlled from the wheel too. The two vertically-mounted rotaries below them are for traction control settings, one for gain (essentially forward bite), one for lateral (during change of direction). Brake balance can also be controlled for here for the first time, as well as the car-to-pit radio (one button held while talking, one to keep the channel open).
“Having an open channel is very useful for testing things and giving instant feedback, it’s how they do it in Formula 1,” he explains. The motor can also be controlled from here, in terms of engine braking, plus power unit and throttle maps. The ABS settings can also be altered too.
Behind the wheel, there are paddles to change gear and for clutch operation.
What he doesn’t have at his disposal is the hybrid system, as electrical assistance is not allowed in GT3 regulations due to cost control. I point out that he must be envious of missing the power on offer that it provides: “The road car’s powertrain is like… it’s endless! The power keeps pushing you on and on when you do a launch start. It’s insane.”
I get to experience this feeling on the morning of the race, as an early start means I miss the worst of the raceday traffic to get a hot lap in the Temerario road car with Lamborghini Super Trofeo hotshoe Jaden Conwright. The young Northern Californian tells me about his IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race the day before, which didn’t exactly go to plan, and then we’re off. Not only is the power of the hybridized V8 engine as “endless” as promised, Conwright gets busy in the turns as we wind our way around this famous track, which is part runways and part permanent road course.
He’s forced to cruise for a little while, as we’ve easily caught a pair of BMWs in front of us, before one last deployment of all that power that sees us reach 165 mph before Jayden hits the brakes. Probably a good thing, as we were down to our last mile of gas! Of course, we could have got back to pitlane on electrical power, but – unlike my Urus SE – this only has a couple of miles of EV range.
Later we get to chat with Lamborghini’s president and CEO Stefan Winkelmann, who reveals how closely the road and race car were developed: “It’s clear that with a new car like the Temerario, we were looking forward to getting everything very close,” he says. “So, when we developed the street-legal car, we kept in mind what is going to happen with the Temerario GT3, and also with the Super Trofeo [which will be used in 2027 in Lambo’s one-make series]. So, it was a very holistic approach in this sense. It’s more complexity [due to the race car being non-hybrid], but we have done this in parallel.
“Motorsport for us is not just a marketing thing. There is a lot of pieces that, in terms of durability, test much better on the track. The engine as a base is the same; it's exceptional to have an engine of that size that revs up to 10,000 rpm in a street-legal car. This is something very close to motorsport.”
While the hybrid in my Urus SE is very different to that of the Revuelto and Temerario (plus the non-existent one in the GT3!) and likely that of its upcoming fourth model, the “Direzione Cor Tauri” (translation: “Toward the Heart of the Bull”) is quite the showcase for Lambo’s current electrified range, as well as being a legislative lifesaver.
A bulging order book has also proved that hybrids can be faster and sexy – with the added bonus of a claimed 80% drop in emissions and the fact it can extend your SUV's range by tens of miles. And if you’re still not convinced by hybrids, you can stand trackside, swig a beer, and watch the ICE-only race car strut its stuff. What’s not to like?
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Photos courtesy of Lamborghini S.P.A & Charles Bradley
