Legendary French marque Delage will be celebrated at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, with IDEC Sport’s LMP2 ORECA carrying the brand’s historic colours.
The brand, which was a major force in motorsports in the 1920s and 1930s, participated in the race six times between 1923 and 1950, including a class victory in the 3L category in 1937.
Delage was revived in 2019 as a road-going hypercar builder.
“For Delage, the opportunity to return to Le Mans is a fantastic opportunity to continue rebuilding the brand’s reputation internationally,” said Laurent Tapie, re-founder and CEO of Delage.
“I would like to thank the entire Idec Sport team for giving us this opportunity. The technical cooperation between our teams can make us optimistic for the race, as there are so many skills and enthusiasm united, as our first joint tests at Le Castellet have shown.”
Since its rebirth in 2019 with its takeover by Laurent Tapie, the Delage brand has launched its stunning D12 hypercar, which has been dubbed a “street-legal F1 car.”
The D12 made its ‘dynamic’ debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last year. 30 cars are set to be built with first deliveries slated for 2024. The European homologation of the D12 as a road-legal car is expected before these first deliveries.
The Delage D12 is a $2.3 million street-legal car made in France with two central seats in a fighter-jet style tandem configuration, a 7.6 L naturally aspirated V12 coupled with an electric engine to produce 1,100hp in the “GT” version and 1,010hp in the “Club” version, which is 200 pounds lighter.
The LMP2 car in the colours of Delage was presented in Paris to the press today, alongside the Delage D12 in the exact same colours, one month before the start of the 100th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
