Friday 12th January 2018

Ginetta launches new LMP1 car at ASI

Ginetta steps into the big time with its potential Le Mans winner

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2018 sees the 60th anniversary of Ginetta; no mean feat for any company, let alone a small, British, sports car manufacturer. To celebrate six decades of showing up far bigger brands at tracks from Lydden Hill to Le Mans, the Yorkshire-based marque has announced this, the G60-LT-P1.

Set to compete in all eight races of the FIA World Endurance Championship, including both the 2018 and 2019 Le Mans 24 Hours, Ginetta is unsurprisingly billing the 660hp, 225mph G60 as the most advanced car in its history. As such, customers don't seem to have been too hard to find, with TRS-Manor already committed to running the G60 and another outfit apparently on the cusp of joining them. That leaves room for one more team to get involved at the moment; Ginetta aiming to build six of the cars overall, but open to the idea of more in future.

With Porsche and Audi both recent high profile departures from LMP1, you may think Ginetta will find it somewhat lonely on the grid. Luckily, though, the top tier seems to be seeing a resurgence of privateers to take up the slack, with entries from BR Engineering/Dallara and ByKolles also lining up alongside Toyota's factory team. According to Autosport, LMP2 constructor Oreca is also expected to soon return to LMP1 in a partnership with Rebellion Racing, so it looks like there'll be plenty of competition after all.

Speaking at the unveiling of the new car, Lawrence Tomlinson, Chairman of Ginetta, said: "Ginetta has a long history of international success in with the G55 GT4, LMP3 and G57. The LMP1 will be a strong contender in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and at Le Mans. We... can't wait to show you what the LMP1 is made of out on track."

 

[Piginapoke]

Stunning car.

Aero looks simpler than the factory LMP1s, bold to predict it should match their pace.

[anonymous-user]

It's an interesting opportunity with the "big boys" pulling of Le Mans.

Although opportunity for what? Ginetta don't exactly need to enhance their profile for mass market aspirations like Audi, Bentley, Porsche, Toyota etc. Also their last attempt at a road car went nowhere (G60).

[Loyly]

It looks great and it's good for the sport to have more manufacturers on the grid. The top prototype racers have long been my favourite motorsport cars outside of rallying.

It's a shame the G40 and G60 didn't meet with more success, but Ginetta lack the critical German badge to appeal to the mass market, sadly.

[ZX10R NIN]

This may well help with spreading the word on Ginetta & it's products so as such it's a good marketing tool as long as the car is competitive.

[Bazzercarnut]

Great to see a British car maker getting involved and flying the flag!
Lets hope for some success.

[ceebmoj]

Loyly said:

It's a shame the G40 and G60 didn't meet with more success, but Ginetta lack the critical German badge to appeal to the mass market, sadly.

My G40R is suprisingly practical. The boot is far bigger than the elise. However most people dont seam intrested in light cars thay want soft toutch plastics leatger and stearing that feels dead.

Its a shame i had hoped the g60 would sell well so that i could get one in a couple of years. It looks amasing

[Maldini35]

A friend of mine did a season racing with Ginetta in G55. The car didn’t finish a race.

I like the company, the chief exec and the philosophy but the cars never seem to have sufficient development.

That said the junior G20 championship seems healthy,

[Hugh Jarse]

Impressive

[anonymous-user]

Bloody great! Ginetta and TVR at Le Mans 2019?