Konrad Motorsport picks Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for 2016 return

The German squad is purchasing two Huracans for twin programmes in Europe and North America in 2016 after also considering Porsche's forthcoming 997-shape 911 GT3-R.

Team boss Franz Konrad, who has links with Porsche stretching back to the 1970s, told AUTOSPORT: "I have tested the Lamborghini twice myself and it is a lovely car.

"Maybe it was time to change away from Porsche in endurance racing to give us some new energy, and it is also the cheaper way."

Konrad also explained that Porsche could not guarantee delivery of a car in time for next January, when his team will begin its 2016 programme with attacks on the 24-hour races in Dubai and Daytona.

Konrad is best-known for fielding Porsches in endurance racing as well as the Supercup and Carrera Cup one-make series, but also had a previous relationship with Lamborghini when it ran the Italian manufacturer's V12 Formula 1 engine in a Group C chassis of its own design in 1991-92.

The team is planning a full-season campaign in the Blancpain Endurance Series with at least one Huracan and an assault on GT Daytona class at the four enduros that make up the North American Endurance Cup component of the renamed IMSA SportsCar Championship.

"What is fixed is at least one car in the BES, but we might also run one in the Blancpain Sprint Series or two in the endurance races," explained Konrad.

"We hope to do as much as we can in IMSA and are working on plans for the four endurance rounds [at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta]."

Konrad's season will begin with the official pre-Daytona test in January when it will use an ex-factory Huracan before its first car arrives in time for the Dubai event on January 15/16.

The team hopes to have a Lamborghini factory driver on loan for Daytona to share alongside team regulars Rolf Ineichen and Lance Willsey, and possibly Marc Basseng.

Ineichen and brother Marc will race at Dubai together with Adrian Amstutz, with whom they won the race outright in 2014.

The Change Racing and O'Gara Motorsport teams will graduate from the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America to compete in GTD with Huracan GT3s in next year's IMSA series.