Having never officially forayed into anything other than one-make GT racing, Lamborghini made a surprise move in September 2003 by announcing a small batch of Murcielago R-GT's. It came after a few important customers had requested a competitive Lamborghini with which they could use in international arenas like the FIA GT Championship and American Le Mans Series. Developed jointly between Reiter Engineering (who make the cars) and parent company Audi Sport (who provided much of the technical input), the Murcielago R-GT's will be built to comply with the FIA's GT and the ACO's GTS category regulations.

Exact details are still sketchy although we do know R-GT's discard the stock Murcielago's four-wheel drive system in favour of a rear-wheel drive set-up whilst its weight is trimmed right down to the 1100kg class minimum. Engine-wise it uses a smaller 6-litre V12 as opposed to the stock versions 6.2 and this is coupled to an advanced sequential gearbox. Outside, the bodywork is adorned with subtly flared wheelarches, a chin spoiler, rear wing, panel retaining pins and new 16-spoke OZ Racing wheels. Priced at around £350,000, Lamborghini are aiming to sell at least ten R-GT's, the first customer examples of which were ready by spring 2004. Reiter had planned to enter an R-GT in the final two rounds of 2003's FIA GT Championship (Estoril and Monza), but after testing at Vallelunga in late September (pictured) and a series of new-car glitches, decideed to skip the Portuguese race.