After 50 Year Hiatus, Ferrari Plans to Compete For Overall Le Mans Victory
It’s been an awfully long time since Ferrari last made a shot for overall victory at Le Mans, but new LMH rules mean a hypercar is coming.
Fans of the prancing horse shield can rejoice, as 9 time Le Mans champions are returning to battle. That’s right, Ferrari will be part of the 2023 race fielding a car in the new LMH “Le Mans Hypercar” category. Their last official entry into the top tier of prototype racing was during the 1973 race. It’s safe to say that things have changed since then. According to Top Gear, the project is only in it infancy. In their report, they note some important specifics still need to be confirmed. Those important parts include; “the track testing programme, the name of the car and the drivers who will make up the official crews.” It very well may be the biggest announcement of an announcement we’ve seen in major sports car racing in the last 50 years.
But some of you may be wondering about the 50 year gap. Technically speaking, the Ferrari 333SP was entered at Le Mans. But remember, this was the GT1 era, and those cars like the McLaren F1 and Porsche GT1 were the top running class. Not the LMP category where the 333SP competed. As it stands, LMH will be the top rung, with LMDh behind.
The rendering you see here isn’t the official car, either. This is just a quick idea that Top Gear created, to show what the car may look like. We think the car will end up looking even more extreme. Far more extreme. In fact, take a look at the announcements covered by GT Planet. Toyota dove into LMH already, making the GR Super Sport you see here. It’s more of a traditional LMP shape than an adaption of a current road car.
Glickenhaus is also in on the LMH category, as is Peugeot. Aston Martin briefly promised the Valkyrie would be part of the program, but has since pulled back its involvement. Maybe with Ferrari entering, and new Aston ownership, they could re-ignite that fire.
All of this news from Ferrari comes about as Formula 1 negotiates new waters. Spending caps are soon to be in place, which means Ferrari can free up resources from their F1 program, and divers it to endurance racing. Or in other words, they can use the endurance racer as a likely test bed for F1 parts and ideas.
Photos: Top Gear, GT Planet
Join the 6SpeedOnline forums now!
