Ferrari will make its comeback in 2023 at the legendary Le Mans 24-hour race, with a car inspired by Formula 1.
While the 90th edition of the world’s greatest endurance race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will take place on June 11 and 12, the Ferrari team will make its comeback in 2023. Indeed, the carmaker has announced the launch of the Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) program in 2021, which will allow the carmaker to compete in the FIA WEC World Championship in the new hypercar category from 2023.
Fifty years after the last official participation in the premier class of World Sport Prototypes in 1973, Ferrari will take to the track in the Hypercar category of the FIA World Endurance Championship, a championship it actively helped create, as well as in the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours, in 2023.
“In more than 70 years of racing, we have brought our covered-wheel cars to triumph on tracks all over the world, experimenting with cutting-edge technological solutions: innovations that come from the racetracks and make every road car produced in Maranello. With the new Le Mans Hypercar program, Ferrari relaunches its sporting commitment and confirms its desire to be a player in the world championships of motorsport excellence“, explained John Elkann, Ferrari President.
Ferrari’s return to competition is due to the introduction of a budget cap in Formula 1, which invites teams to redirect resources and engineers to other programs.
Antonello Coletta, Le Mans Hypercar project director, reveals some information about the brand’s future hypercar: “I think the technology we have at Ferrari is one of our greatest assets, and it’s normal that we share this technology between all our projects. It’s normal that the LMH project has F1 experience, but not only, it also comes from road cars (…) Our technologies are drawn from past experiences in F1 and road cars” he comments in an exclusive interview with motorsport.tv on Ferrari channel.
The new facility built near Ferrari’s Fiorano test track will be used for the development of the LMH prototype as well as the 296 GT3, allowing an exchange of technology between road racing, F1 and WEC.
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Featured photo: © Alexis Goure (Aco)
