NEWS

When he’s not scouring through legal documents in his day job as an attorney at Haynes Boone, David Staab leads a very different kind of life. Since 2022, he’s been fulfilling his childhood dream at the wheel of a Lamborghini Huracán in the Am class of Super Trofeo North America.

The Texan, originally from Dallas Fort Worth and now residing in Trophy Club north of the city centre, has been a key staple of the continental championship over the past five seasons and is a perfect example of an amateur driver pursuing his passion while still holding down a 9-5.

“To be driving a Lamborghini is a literal dream come true for me,” Staab begins. “I used to have posters of Lamborghinis on my bedroom wall as a kid, so it is kind of surreal to be able to race one of these cars.

“They look light spaceships; nothing looks cooler than the Super Trofeo in the paddock. There are fins everywhere, 620hp, everything that represents Lamborghini is there and the cars are so fun to drive, so wild and it’s a dream come true to be able to race these things.

“And the tracks we drive on as well, they are all tracks that I grew up dreaming of racing at, or that I raced on the Xbox, that’s super cool, and the fact we get to travel to other circuits around the world, like Misano or Portimão, it’s been unbelievable.”

Before making his Super Trofeo debut with Precision Performance Motorsports, Staab plied his trade in another spec series, gaining the valuable experience at the wheel and, more importantly, the race craft needed to make the cut further down the line.

In much the same way as past Super Trofeo North America competitors Anthony McIntosh, Glenn McGee and Ashton Harrison to name but a few, Staab worked his way up the popular Mazda MX-5 Cup in the USA but quickly had to unlearn many aspects of that category when jumping to the 620hp Super Trofeo machine.

“Grassroots racing taught me almost everything I know about race craft,” Staab explains. “The crazy thing is that right from the start you have got a car on your left, on your right, on your rear bumper the whole time. It’s like a war out there, so that was a great training ground for Super Trofeo.

“The race craft transferred, but there were other things that didn’t. In MX-5 Cup, drafting is huge part of the race craft whereas in Super Trofeo it isn’t at Daytona in the Cup car, when we were bumper to bumper in the draft, our top speed was upwards of around 145mph, compared to 130mph without the draft.”

The constant vigilance involved in a cut-throat spec series has certainly made Staab far more aware of his surroundings. At the opening round of the 2026 season at Sebring, he needed those skills more than ever, after losing his right-hand side mirror early in the first race. Despite this, he battled back to finish an impressive second, behind race-winner Nick Groat.

“It certainly did come in use! I watched the race broadcast back and they made the comment that a lot of cars have rear view cameras in their cars, well mine does not! That was a challenge, because at Sebring there are a lot of heavy braking zones and right handers, so trying to get a good gauge as to how much I needed to defend or not was pretty difficult!”

It was through MX-5 Cup that Staab was first introduced to PPM and [Super Trofeo driver and PPM Competitions Director] Brandon Gdovic. And the MX-5 connection continued in the maiden season as Staab was partnered by its series champion, Nikko Reger.

The pairing enjoyed a thoroughly competitive season together and led the points standings heading into the final round of the year, at the Portimão circuit in Portugal, before the cruellest of blows cost them dearly.

“The first season, I was extremely close to winning the Am title,” reflects Staab. “We were the points leaders coming into the final race of the season in Portugal, by a decent margin as well and we had won the first race too.

“Both Nikko and I loved the track, loved where we were with the car and were extremely confident and the car had been rock-solid for us all season. But, in the warm-up before the race, I was on the laptop, and I looked up in the garage and saw smoke billowing up from the back of the engine bay, the alternator had failed.

“Then there was a mad scramble because we were just about to go to the grid; I would venture that we were the only car that has ever started a race without an alternator – we actually had a battery strapped into the passenger side of the car.

“We were informed that it wouldn’t work but we decided to give it a go anyway and, unfortunately, the Lamborghini technical staff was correct, and it was not possible to run the car in this configuration. We took the green flag anyway because you never know what could happen in the race, but very soon after we lost power to the radio, the gearshift and we had to bring the car in.

“That was disappointing, but we did at least take second place in the World Finals, and we won the second race of that, which was a lot of fun.”

The following year, Staab raced as a solo driver, and he has done every year since. It allows him to maximise his seat time and flourish more as a driver, learning from one of the very best in the North American championship, his team boss and twice North American class champion Brandon Gdovic.

“I’ve learned an incredible amount from the team and Brandon, in particular,” Staab says. “He has been integral in my coaching, getting me to where I am now. After the sessions, it’s a big group effort between the engineers and Brandon personally going through the video and the data and focusing on all the areas of improvement.

“There are some things from MX-5 Cup that are transferrable, but a lot of things are not. In Super Trofeo, you don’t have the draft effect at all. There’s also no trail braking or maintenance throttle in the Super Trofeo, the car rotates best when you get off the throttle, so you’re actually slowing the car better by not using the brakes which sounds counter-intuitive, but it works. It’s also not a big fan of maintenance throttle, it’s better when you just get the car rotated and full acceleration out of the corner.”

“And it’s a great thing Brandon being in the car full-time this year too, to get to see him on track means I get a very visible impression of what the cars are capable of using the same setup.”

Staab has been one of the leading contenders in the Am class since he joined the championship, finishing runner-up in 2022 and 2023 before narrowly missing out on the title last season. Perhaps 2026 could be the year?