Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato Vs. Porsche 911 Dakar

Every once in a while, sports car manufacturers decide to spice things up by creating something unexpected. This was the case when high-performance brands such as Porsche decided to start building SUVs, even though amidst a lot of skepticism from the media and a big part of its customer base. Nonetheless, the Porsche Cayenne SUV was a huge success and others followed.

For quite some time, customers of supercar brands that wanted something they could use on a daily basis had to opt for the SUVs like the Cayenne or more recently the Lamborghini Urus. There are several reasons for that, but the main one is ground clearance. Speed bumps, driveways, or even a little ditch on the street is the sort of thing that gives supercar owners nightmares.

Interestingly however, Porsche and Lamborghini seem to have had the same idea at about the same time and 2023 saw the release of two supercars, off-road crossovers that are making waves on the high-performance scene. They are the Porsche 911 Dakar and the Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato. To satisfy everyone’s curiosity, Carwow decided to pit them against each other in a drag race.

RELATED: Pushing The Porsche 911 Dakar Out Of Its Comfort Zone

The Off-Road Super Cars

Carwow’s presenter, Mat Watson, was sat in the Lamborghini Sterrato while the Porsche was driven by racing driver Sam Maher-Loughnan. These cars produce power via internal combustion engines, though the Porsche uses a smaller displacement unit that is turbocharged, and the Lambo makes its power via a naturally aspirated V-10.

Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato Vs. Porsche 911 Dakar Specs

Both cars, being meant to have some off-road capabilities, are all-wheel drive and weigh about the same. Lamborghini only discloses dry weight, which is 3,241 pounds for the Sterrato. Thankfully, Porsche also discloses its ‘unladen’ weight, which is the same as dry weight. The 911 Dakar tips the scales at 3,538 pounds.

RELATED: Here’s What The Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato Is All About

The Drag Race

Both drivers ran three drag races to ascertain the winner after the best 2/3 results. The Porsche 911 Dakar weighs a bit more than the Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato, but its turbocharged engine delivers its torque much sooner than the Lamborghini, which needs to rev high to reach its considerable horsepower advantage over the Porsche. On Porsche’s side, there was also the renowned eight-speed PDK transmission, which helped keep both cars pretty close to each other in most situations.

RELATED: Owner Puts His Brand-New Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato To The Ultimate Test

The Results

In the first race, the Lambo had all traction control off and used launch control, while the Porsche was in ‘Rally’ mode. The Lambo took off ahead of the Porsche pretty much from the start and increased the distance as it continue to work high in the RPM range, making full use of its 602 horsepower.

The second race wielded a different result. Sam Maher took the Porsche out of Rally mode as he felt this mode did not deliver full power off the line. His reasoning was that Rally mode in the Porsche implied the car would be on a slippery surface and should take off less aggressively for optimum performance in this situation. He then launched it manually, without launch control or Rally mode and the Porsche jumped ahead of the Lambo right off the line and managed to stay ahead, barely, as both reached the 1/4 mile mark.

The third race started about the same as the second, but this time Mat managed to launch the Lambo a bit better and the initial jump the Porsche had was not enough to keep it ahead of the Lambo throughout the whole 1/4 mile. In the end, the Huracán Sterrato won, completing the standard 1/4 mile in 11.0 seconds, while the Porsche 911 Dakar did it in 11.2 seconds. Pretty close, and pretty exciting to watch.