Wednesday 24th February 2021

Ferrari announces Le Mans Hypercar entry

Factory confirms its return to new top WEC class - half a century after it left

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What with everything else that's been going on, it's easy to forget the excitement generated by the new Le Mans Hypercar class of sportscar racing. The premise is simple: elite-level racing cars derived from the world's great hypercars, racing on the best tracks the planet has to offer. It's coming very soon, too, with the 2021 season kicking off next month, and it's going to get better still - because Ferrari is going to enter.

It was widely believed that, if Ferrari did return to the top table of sportscar racing, it would opt for Le Mans Hypercar rather than LMDh because of the greater freedom in the LMH rules, and that's exactly what's happened. "Ferrari announces the start of the Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) programme that from 2023 will see the manufacturer enter the new top class of the FIA World Endurance Championship... Following a period of study and analysis, Ferrari has kicked off the development of the new LMH car to include in recent weeks the design and simulation phases. The track testing programme, the name of the car and the drivers who will make up the official crews, will be part of future announcements", said a statement.

Ferrari President John Elkann commented: "In over 70 years of racing, on tracks all over the world, we led our closed-wheel cars to victory by exploring cutting-edge technological solutions: innovations that arise from the track and make every road car produced in Maranello extraordinary. With the new Le Mans Hypercar programme, Ferrari once again asserts its sporting commitment and determination to be a protagonist in the major global motorsport events".

Nowadays any manufacturer commissioning a motorsport effort is to be commended, but it's especially noteworthy coming from Ferrari. Because while privateer entries have achieved considerable success over the decades, it's been a long time since a factory-entered Ferrari sportscar has raced. In fact, the 2023 entry will be 50 years since Maranello's last official participation in the World Sportscar Championship. And what days they were: cars like the 512 S, 312 P and 330 P4 remain utterly spectacular sports cars half a century later. You can rest assured Ferrari will be rustling up something similarly iconic this time around - we can't wait.

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[MountainsofSussex]

Am I the only one who has precisely no interest in this new LM class? It was supposed to be a chance for versions of cars you might occasionally see on the street fighting on the track. But it's ended up being another set of prototype regulations with zero road relevance. Something like GT3 or GTE with a much higher performance envelope, I'd have been up for, but this, yawn...

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

MountainsofSussex said:

Am I the only one who has precisely no interest in this new LM class? It was supposed to be a chance for versions of cars you might occasionally see on the street fighting on the track. But it's ended up being another set of prototype regulations with zero road relevance. Something like GT3 or GTE with a much higher performance envelope, I'd have been up for, but this, yawn...

I'm sure there's someone else out there, but I'm not one of them. That said, I enjoyed the LMP1 era.

[Gecko1978]

I think the reason is in this class you can build a car that will win think Peugeot and Audi etc, enter a SF90 and it gets beat by a 911 it damages the brand. I think with aston who had success win or loose it was more about being at the race for the brand. For Ferrari they will want podiums

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

Gecko1978 said:

I think the reason is in this class you can build a car that will win think Peugeot and Audi etc, enter a SF90 and it gets beat by a 911 it damages the brand. I think with aston who had success win or loose it was more about being at the race for the brand. For Ferrari they will want podiums

I think I just about deciphered that

[Every day a journey]

I have a feeling, a sneaky, deep down sensation, that this Ferrari entry will be monumentally EPIC.....or merda completa

[Lil'RedGTO]

That's potentially quite exciting. Does that mean we will see Por-shuh v Ferrari fighting for overall victory at Le Mans in 2023? I confess I haven't gotten my head around the various forthcoming endurance racing classes.

[Clive Milk]

MountainsofSussex said:

Am I the only one who has precisely no interest in this new LM class? It was supposed to be a chance for versions of cars you might occasionally see on the street fighting on the track. But it's ended up being another set of prototype regulations with zero road relevance. Something like GT3 or GTE with a much higher performance envelope, I'd have been up for, but this, yawn...

It's a shame about that I admit but at least it is not a class of one team since Audi and Porsche ran away. Ferrari joining just adds to it. It will be interesting to see how close the LMDh will get to them also.

I have to admit to finding Lmp2 cars not as exciting as the top class or the gte class .... which is a bit mean.

[The Hypno-Toad]

So we have Ferrari, Toyota, Glickenhaus & Peugeot all doing Hypercars while Audi and Porsche are doing LMDh all for 2023.

I'd be willing to bet Mclaren will be in with something in 2025 for the 30th Anniversary of their win and if they follow I wonder who else might drop in with a new car?

GMD? Lamborghini? Aston Martin?

[ducnick]

bring back group C type rules. here is your limited amount of fuel/energy. do whatever you want with it to do as many laps as possible in 24 hrs

[Every day a journey]

ducnick said:

bring back group C type rules. here is your limited amount of fuel/energy. do whatever you want with it to do as many laps as possible in 24 hrs

Agreed.

Produced some of the best looking race cars too

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

Every day a journey said:

ducnick said:

bring back group C type rules. here is your limited amount of fuel/energy. do whatever you want with it to do as many laps as possible in 24 hrs

Agreed.

Produced some of the best looking race cars too

I suspect that wasn't because of the design regs, just a relative lack of knowledge on aerodynamics compared to today. Given the same regs as back then, I very much reckon the cars would look rather different.

[ettore]

I can’t really see this as anything other than good news tbh. I know the regs aren’t really purist but LM from 2023-on is shaping up to be pretty epic.

[giveitfish]

I hope the BOP handicaps are applied fairly. It would be a shame if the inevitable historic win was overshadowed like the Ford GT’s anniversary...(sorry for the cynical view, I am genuinely looking forward to this race though!)

[LM240]

This is great news. More makers coming into or back to endurance racing and creating a large field at Le Mans is wonderful.

Though like others, I find it bittersweet that we have two separate classes. We needed one clear top class where the fastest and most reliable deserve their finishing places but we are going to be stuck with balance of performance to artificially bring the two types of cars together.

It would be perfect having worldwide regs with 3 classes.. GT3 for private entries pro-am drivers, GT2 for factory teams (see GT Pro class) and the ‘prototype’ GT1 class which must be ‘based’ on a road going car. Stable regulations which allow makers in all markets to create a car for those regs. Because resources are pooled into a set of 3 classes it then opens up the chance of privateers running the same cars. Best teams from any series able to fight it out at the big events like Le Mans. Perhaps space for a spec Prototype class with performance inbetween GT2 and GT1.

[giveitfish]

ducnick said:

bring back group C type rules. here is your limited amount of fuel/energy. do whatever you want with it to do as many laps as possible in 24 hrs

We effectively had that in LMP1 a few years ago and we ended up with 1000+hp hybrid monsters and some amazing racing! Porsche vs Audi vs Toyota, three totally different drivetrains but all three mega fast.

[Every day a journey]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

Every day a journey said:

ducnick said:

bring back group C type rules. here is your limited amount of fuel/energy. do whatever you want with it to do as many laps as possible in 24 hrs

Agreed.

Produced some of the best looking race cars too

I suspect that wasn't because of the design regs, just a relative lack of knowledge on aerodynamics compared to today. Given the same regs as back then, I very much reckon the cars would look rather different.

did I mention anywhere whether they were actually aerodynamically efficient? I just wrote they were some great looking race cars.

Unfortunately, areodymaics has overuled styling in the pursuit of perfection.

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

Every day a journey said:

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

Every day a journey said:

ducnick said:

bring back group C type rules. here is your limited amount of fuel/energy. do whatever you want with it to do as many laps as possible in 24 hrs

Agreed.

Produced some of the best looking race cars too

I suspect that wasn't because of the design regs, just a relative lack of knowledge on aerodynamics compared to today. Given the same regs as back then, I very much reckon the cars would look rather different.

did I mention anywhere whether they were actually aerodynamically efficient? I just wrote they were some great looking race cars.

Unfortunately, areodymaics has overuled styling in the pursuit of perfection.

Sorry I meant to quote ducnick.

[MG CHRIS]

The Hypno-Toad said:

So we have Ferrari, Toyota, Glickenhaus & Peugeot all doing Hypercars while Audi and Porsche are doing LMDh all for 2023.

I'd be willing to bet Mclaren will be in with something in 2025 for the 30th Anniversary of their win and if they follow I wonder who else might drop in with a new car?

GMD? Lamborghini? Aston Martin?

Aston is in f1 and pulled out of hyper car after being the brand that made the most noise about racing a road car ironic of what. Also for this year alpine will be running a rebellion lmp1 car so i would suggest they be using that to gain experience and build a car themselves the aco would love to have 2 French teams racing in the top class for the 100 year race in 2023 i think.

Seen the pics of the Glickenhaus build that is shaping up to be a nice looking car.

As for Ferrari announcing great news for the series another boost to the format i suspect maybe McLaren could well join zac brown is no stranger to lemans so could be a possibility.

[Krikkit]

giveitfish said:

ducnick said:

bring back group C type rules. here is your limited amount of fuel/energy. do whatever you want with it to do as many laps as possible in 24 hrs

We effectively had that in LMP1 a few years ago and we ended up with 1000+hp hybrid monsters and some amazing racing! Porsche vs Audi vs Toyota, three totally different drivetrains but all three mega fast.

Yep exactly! Like a lot of non spec series these kinds of racing categories go to the team who have the best tech team and budget. At the 24LM it's also good luck, Toyota failing to beat Porsche the other year despite native pace advantage showed that.

I'm looking forward to LMDh, hopefully should produce some good racing.

[Every day a journey]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

Every day a journey said:

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

Every day a journey said:

ducnick said:

bring back group C type rules. here is your limited amount of fuel/energy. do whatever you want with it to do as many laps as possible in 24 hrs

Agreed.

Produced some of the best looking race cars too

I suspect that wasn't because of the design regs, just a relative lack of knowledge on aerodynamics compared to today. Given the same regs as back then, I very much reckon the cars would look rather different.

did I mention anywhere whether they were actually aerodynamically efficient? I just wrote they were some great looking race cars.

Unfortunately, areodymaics has overuled styling in the pursuit of perfection.

Sorry I meant to quote ducnick.

Apology accepted sir.