Ferrari has unveiled the first prototype image for the new Le Mans Hypercar WEC Endurance Championship. Tests of the car will begin in the coming weeks, and its racing debut will take place next year, 50 years after the last appearance of the Ferrari factory team in the top class of “Le Mans”.
The Ferrari hypercar will compete in the overall 24 Hours of Le Mans in the new LMH (Le Mans Hypercar) class, and its rivals will be the Toyota GR010 Hybrid, SCG 007 LMH, Peugeot 9X8 LMH and ByKolles Vandervell LM. Plus Cadillac, BMW and Porsche LMDh cars. The last LMP prototype of the Italians was the 333 SP, which performed from 1994 to 2003, and in the top class of “Le Mans” factory team was not 49 years.
In the LMH class, manufacturers are given more freedom than in the LMDh. The use of a four-stroke gasoline engine is allowed, but the layout of the cylinders and their number are not regulated. For example, the atmospheric 700-horsepower V8 will be used as the ByKolles, and the Peugeot 9X8 will be equipped with a 680-horsepower V6 2.6 biturbomotor engine paired with a 200-kilowatt (272 hp) generator motor. And the basis of the hybrid system “Toyota” will be a twin-turbo V6 3.5 from Gazoo Racing.
LMDh cars can be built on the chassis of one of four companies: Dallara, Ligie, Multimatic and Oreca. They must have the same aerodynamics, an Xtrac transmission with an integrated Bosch motor-generator and a Williams Advance Engineering battery. The power of the hybrid power plant can not exceed 500 kilowatts (680 hp), and the weight of the machine – 1030 kilograms.