After the confirmation last month that Lamborghini will join endurance racing’s premier category with an LMDh project for the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IMSA) from 2024, final confirmation comes today that Ligier Automotive will provide the chassis and bodywork for the new car.
Since the acquisition of the Ligier brand at the end of 2013, the carmaker, based in Magny-Cours and Amilly in France, as well as in the United States with its subsidiary Ligier Automotive North America, has designed and built more than 500 racing cars, from sport-prototypes to single-seaters and GTs.
Ligier Automotive was already involved in the Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) category as a technical supplier to a major constructor.
The company is now stepping up its role in the new premier endurance racing category through its association with Lamborghini in Le Mans Daytona hybrid (LMDh). Ligier Automotive will supply the Italian brand with the spine of its new generation of LMP2 cars and the bodywork package of the future Lamborghini LMDh.
The Ligier, based Lamborghini will join the 2023 batch of cars from Porsche LMDh with a Multimatic Chassis in both the WEC and IMSA, BMW (currently IMSA only) and Cadillac (WEC and IMSA) LMDh cars both featuring a Dallara base and Acura (IMSA only).
In 2024, Alpine will also join the LMDh numbers in the FIA WEC with a car chassised by ORECA.
In the FIA WEC, the Lamborghini will also face off against the LMH-rules cars from Toyota, Ferrari, Peugeot and Glickenhaus in the World Championship’s combined Hypercar class.
“We are extremely proud that Lamborghini has selected Ligier Automotive for its LMDh programme,” says Jacques Nicolet, President of Ligier Automotive.
“Proportionally, we have remained in our respective fields of activity as companies on a human scale. A commitment to reaching determined objectives in record time is a priority for our entire staff. Ligier is a burgeoning company, and this decision by Lamborghini honours us and confirms our strategic direction in France and the United States.”
“We are glad to announce the technical partnership with Ligier on the LMDh project”, stated Giorgio Sanna, Lamborghini Head of Motorsport. “As in Lamborghini Squadra Corse we have found in Magny Cours a team of young, competent and motivated people. We already feel as one team and we look forward to the next challenges in front of us.”
