Endurance Racing to Get New Car Class
In a surprise move by the ACO, Automobile Club de l”Ouest, the French racing authority that oversees LeMans and other WEC series, the club announced that they would be setting up an new class of vehicle for the series, LMP3.
Essentially the ACO saw that there was no feeder class of vehicle for the more advanced Prototype 1 and 2 classes and decided to help younger drivers better train for the rigors of those classes.
The new LMP3 category will have the same type of configuration that the LMP1 and 2s all have, that is, closed cockpit, large rear fin, and the very similar dimensions. The new category however will not have the same openness to engine choices that the higher classes do.
The LMP3s will all be powered by V8s limited to around 420 hp, will be about 6-inch shorter in total length and will all be supported by the Oreca racing company. The ACO is also attempting to scale back the cost of running these cars for the teams in order to get a proper feeder series going.
Total cost of the car is said to be around $260,000, and the total of running the car for a full season would be around $540,000, meaning teams won’t have to spend the massive running costs that the LMP1 and 2 teams do which will hopefully foster greater participation in the series.
Right now the LMP3 series is confirmed to be set to race in WEC, and Asian Endurance racing, no word yet if the ACO has reached out to IMSA to see if the LMP3s could race here in the States against the DPs and LMP2 cars.
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