The 48-year-old executive has been replaced on an interim basis by Rouven Mohr, who will now take on his new role alongside his existing duties as the chief technical officer of Lamborghini.
The announcement came from the Italian manufacturer on Thursday in a brief statement, offering no details regarding the departure of the former executive, Stefano Sanna.
Sanna’s absence from this month’s World Endurance Championship season-opener in Qatar, where Lamborghini unveiled its new SC63 LMDh prototype, was noted earlier for unspecified personal reasons.
Sanna is widely credited as the driving force behind Lamborghini’s foray into top-tier sportscar racing with the SC63, a project developed in collaboration with Ligier Automotive.
Despite setbacks over the preceding years, Sanna’s persistence paid off when the project finally came to fruition in spring 2022.
Previous attempts to partner with Dallara Automobili for an LMDh project failed to secure board approval in 2020, and a proposed collaboration with the Volkswagen group LMDh project, which resulted in Porsche’s 963, also fell through.
The SC63 made its debut at the Qatar 1812 km event, the opening round of the World Endurance Championship, albeit with modest fanfare.
Competing against major manufacturers in the Hypercar class, the Iron Lynx factory team, running the SC63, qualified as the slowest entry. In the race, piloted by Mirko Bortolotti, Edoardo Mortara, and Daniil Kvyat, the car finished in 14th position, trailing the winning Porsche by five laps.
Sanna’s journey with Lamborghini began in 2001 as a test driver for the company’s road car research and development division, even while he pursued a career as a racing driver.
In January 2015, he transitioned to lead the newly formed Lamborghini Squadra Corse motorsport department.
Under Sanna’s guidance, Lamborghini achieved notable success with three iterations of the Huracan GT3 and in the one-make Super Trofeo series.
Sanna also boasts accomplishments as a racer, including championship victories in the 2011 Italian GT Championship GT3 class with Team Imperiale and in GT Am in the 2014 Asian Le Mans Series with Emperor Racing, both driving Reiter Engineering-developed Gallardos.
