Ferrari today unveiled a little more of its upcoming Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) racecar with a new teaser image. Now testing on track at Fiorano, the car will run in the top class of the FIA World Endurance Championship as of 2023. Although the image is still bathed in darkness, making it hard to make out fine details, what can be seen looks rather like the competing cars that have already been unveiled, like the Porsche 963 and the BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh racer. It will actually differ from them, though.
Whereas the majority of cars we’ve seen so
far will abide by LMDh and GTP class specifications—which have a large number
of spec parts provided by suppliers like Multimatic and Dallara—Ferrari is
building its car to LMH spec. The similarity of regulations means the cars will
be competing against one another for overall victories, but LMH cars are
allowed to be based on road cars or custom-made chassis. Speaking to Autocar,
Coletta said that Ferrari would be making its own chassis, engine, gearbox,
suspension, and electronics for their Le Mans competitor.
Although the rules allow an LMH racer to
be based on a roadgoing hypercar, the Ferrari exec admits that it won’t share
much in common with any of the brand’s current road cars. That’s not to say it
never will, though. But that won’t be until after the car races. Ferrari said
it has been developing it for 18 months and anticipates that it will make its
competition debut in March 2023, ahead of its first return to Le Mans in nearly
60 years. In the meantime, it will continue its intensive development program
with drivers from the Competizioni GT pool.
