This paper investigates how and under which conditions the lamella of an impacting droplet is punctured by the presence of a small occlusion. Better understanding the conditions which lead to the rupture of the lamella is critical to produce defect free coating layers in the context of spray coating, for example. An analytical model based on surface energy analysis is proposed to obtain the critical thickness below which the liquid layer above the occlusion is unstable and lamella rupture occurs. Furthermore, we have developed a three dimensional multiphase lattice Boltzmann code to confirm the surface energy analysis and study the influence of key parameters like size of the occlusion, impact velocity and wettability of substrate on hole formation. Results show that a hole is more likely to appear as the diameter of the occlusion, the impact velocity, and the hydrophobicity of the surface increase. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.