Lamborghini Huracan Performante to be inspired by GT3 racer

Lamborghini’s lighter, faster version of its Huracan supercar is set to be inspired its motorsport-grade GT3 cousin.

Our spies have come in from the cold of wintry Europe to provide us with revealing images of the model that could be called the Performante rather than Superleggera. The Italian marque is reported to have filed the Performante name with the European patent office.

Firstly, our latest images indicate there will be both Coupe and Spyder versions of the V10-powered Performante/Superleggera.

Secondly, camouflage can’t disguise two prominent changes to the body that link the track-focused variant to the track-specific Huracan GT3 racecar.

There’s a fair-sized rear wing, while the exhaust eschews the quad-pipe layout of the regular Huracan for the higher-placed twin-tip set-up of the GT3.

That no doubt leaves room for a fancier rear-diffuser system as part of an increased focus on aerodynamics for the Superleggera/Performante, though don’t expect it to look as aggressively dramatic as the race car’s aero.

Also anticipated is a substantive weight loss, as with the Gallardo Superleggera predecessor that shed 100kg compared with its vanilla sibling.

A big part of the kilo-reduction program is expected to come from some body panels switching from aluminium to carbon fibre. (The Huracan’s chassis already combines aluminium and carbon fibre construction.)

The lighter body will be a bigger key to performance than likely tweaks to both the Huracan’s 5.2-litre V10 and exhaust system.

And as with the LP570-4, the Superleggera’s successor is expected to be based on the all-wheel-drive variant of the Huracan.

The regular Huracan is already significantly quicker than the old Gallardo Superleggera – 3.2 v 3.8 seconds – and the Superleggera/Performante will be slightly quicker again.