After the surprising departure of Lamborghini’s long-term sports director Giorgio Sanna in March, a successor is now likely to be in place: Who is the favorite for the job?
Has Lamborghini found a new head of sports? In mid-March 2024, the Italian Audi subsidiary announced that Giorgio Sanna, head of motorsport for many years, was leaving Lamborghini “with immediate effect”. The trigger for this was likely an internal investigation. Since then, Lamborghini’s Chief Development Officer Rouven Mohr has been in charge of the Squadra Corse sports division on an interim basis.
It seems that a successor has now been found: the 62-year-old Maurizio Leschiutta. And he is no stranger to the scene.
The Canadian with Italian roots has been in charge of BMW’s hypercar program since 2021, and in 2020 he was the Munich-based team’s DTM operations manager. Former BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt brought him over from the WRT team five years ago.
Announcement planned for November
Leschiutta even has Formula 1 experience, having worked for Ferrari and engine customer Sauber as an engine engineer from 1993 to 2000. He later headed the Maserati technical department and was responsible for 14 titles, including in the FIA GT Championship.
He is expected to start work at the sports car manufacturer from Sant’Agata Bolognese on December 1, 2024. The official presentation could – as one hears – take place before that: namely around the Lamborghini World Final in Jerez de la Frontera in Spain, which takes place from November 21 to 24 and serves as the official season finale of the worldwide Super Trofeo one-make cups.
Leschiutta’s appointment would make sense, because Lamborghini currently has a number of German-speaking managers in the form of CEO Stephan Winkelmann, head of development Mohr and head of racing development Stefan Gugger. In addition, all three have an Audi past.
“His strength is dealing with my team”
With Leschiutta, they would ensure that the motorsport division does not lose its Italian identity, which is not insignificant for the corporate culture. In addition, the long-standing BMW man is known in the scene not only for his technical skills and experience, but above all for his good leadership. He is considered to be very structured, a man of clear words and a team player.
“His strength is dealing with my team – whether they are engineers, mechanics or logisticians,” said WRT team principal Vincent Vosse. ‘I can fully rely on him.’ Among other things, Leschiutta managed the DTM entry as an Audi customer team for WRT in 2019, and he and Vosse also worked together again on the LMDh project at BMW in recent years.
Big challenges at Lamborghini
While a change of Leschiutta to Lamborghini would certainly mean a loss for BMW, especially since the hypercar program is slowly getting off the ground, the new sports director at Lamborghini has big tasks ahead of him: After winning the DTM title, the Temerario, the presentation of the new GT3 hope, is imminent, which is to be developed in 2025 and delivered to customers in 2026.
On top of that, the hypercar program is faltering and even a discontinuation of the SC63 in the medium term cannot be ruled out. The Lamborghini sports department is relatively small, with fewer than 30 employees, given the numerous areas of activity.
