Ferrari 499P takes Italian model again to high stage at Le Mans

Ferrari has revealed its new 499P LMH race automobile set for top-level competitors from 2023 within the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The debut happened on Saturday at Italy’s Imola circuit, throughout Ferrari’s annual Finali Mondiali occasion celebrating the tip of the motorsport season.

The automobile’s identify evokes the sports activities prototypes that Ferrari raced within the Nineteen Sixties and Seventies, such because the 250 P and later 330 P, automobiles that have been winners of races just like the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Daytona, and 6 Hours of Nürburgring. It is a becoming identify, because the 499P will see Ferrari return to high stage of endurance racing after half a century, when the automaker final competed with the 312 PB. The importance just isn’t misplaced on Ferrari’s present administration.

“We enter this problem with humility, however acutely aware of a historical past that has taken us to over 20 world endurance titles and 9 general victories on the 24 Hours of Le Mans,” John Elkann, Ferrari’s chairman, stated in a press release.

The 499P is constructed to satisfy LMH laws, which means it’s eligible for each the prevailing Hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship and the brand new GTP class launching subsequent 12 months as the brand new high class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Ferrari to this point has solely introduced a dedication to the World Endurance Championship, whose spotlight is the 24 Hours of Le Mans, although the 499P might nonetheless seem at choose SportsCar Championship rounds, such because the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Subsequent 12 months may even be the primary through which LMH automobiles additionally compete in opposition to automobiles developed to satisfy the separate LMDh laws. LMDh automobiles are additionally eligible for each the Hypercar and GTP courses, with stability of efficiency for use to make sure a stage taking part in subject.

In contrast to the LMDh automobiles which use management chassis sourced from suppliers, LMH automobiles are primarily based on bespoke chassis. The 499P includes a newly developed carbon-fiber monocoque with double wishbone, push-rod-type suspension at each ends.

Energy comes from a twin-turbo V-6 engine that is mounted in a mid-engine place and serves as a load-bearing construction. The engine is derived from the twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 within the Ferrari 296 GTB street automobile, and works along with a entrance axle electrical motor that is related to a differential, forming an all-wheel-drive system. Collectively the 2 energy items can ship a most 670 hp at anyone time. The laws additionally mandate a minimal weight of two,270 lb for the automobile.

The electrical motor is powered by a 900-volt battery developed utilizing data from Ferrari’s Components 1 program. The battery depends on power recovered whereas braking, which it then delivers to the electrical motor to offer the automobile with an influence enhance.

Acura, BMW, Cadillac, Porsche and Alpine have dedicated to LMDh, whereas ByKolles, Glickenhaus, Peugeot, Toyota, together with Ferrari, have dedicated to LMH. Audi had agreed to affix LMDh in 2023 however introduced in August it had canceled these plans to give attention to a deliberate F1 2026 deal. Lamborghini will be a part of the LMDh race in 2024.

Ferrari is not working its marketing campaign alone. The automaker’s Competizioni GT sports activities automobile racing division has partnered up with AF Corse for the marketing campaign, forming the brand new staff Ferrari – AF Corse. AF Corse is an unbiased Italian racing staff based by former racing driver Amato Ferrari (no relation to Enzo Ferrari or his son, Piero) in 1995. It is labored carefully with Ferrari since 2006, and in recent times has represented Ferrari in GT competitors, most notably within the GTE class of the World Endurance Championship.

Following a Prologue occasion at Florida’s Sebring Worldwide Raceway on Mar. 11-12, the primary spherical of the 2023 World Endurance Championship will kick off on Mar. 17 with the 1000 Miles of Sebring.