UK-based sportscar manufacturer Ginetta is planning to ‘relaunch’ its LMP3 programme for 2025, coinciding with the introduction of the new turbo-charged V6 Toyota ORECA engine to the formula.
Speaking to DSC, Ginetta’s motorsport director Mike Simpson said the Yorkshire-based brand will be pushing to build a customer base in time for 2025, with the aim of having cars competing in the ELMS, Le Mans Cup and associated ACO LMP3 events for the next phase of the formula.
Since it was introduced in 2020, the G61-LT-P3 has been largely absent in the major championships featuring LMP3 classes and fewer than 10 cars have been built.
The Gen 2 LMP3 era hasn’t been kind to Ginetta in terms of sales numbers, due to Ligier and Duqueine’s success in retaining customers at the end of 2019, beyond a few cars finding a home in ADAC Prototype Cup Germany.
However, Ginetta believes in its product and the LMP3 ruleset, and according to Simpson, will escalate its presence in years to come.
“We’ve enjoyed supporting customers in the ADAC Prototype Cup, with Gebhart and Konrad,” he explained. “We have five cars in Germany and three or four of them have raced. We’ve worked closely there as you have to fit catalytic converters for that series for emissions in Germany.
“We have three cars that have just finished being built, one has sold. And I’d like to think there will be a Ginetta ACO programme in time.
The new-for-2025 LMP3 engine is understood to be a Toyota V35A-FTS twin-turbo V6 from ORECA, that has appeared in a number of high-end Toyota and Lexus sedans and SUVs.
It replaces the 2020-introduced Nissan VK56 normally aspirated V8 and will require the four LMP3 manufacturers to make significant redesigns to their current chassis.
DSC believes the upgrade kit for teams will cost around 120,000 Euros. So with new LMP3 cars costing around 300,000 Euros before tax, the expectation is that most teams will opt to purchase brand new cars for 2025 instead of upgrading.
“If you have a current car that’s done three years of running with old parts, you’ll probably sell that and buy a new one, our objective is to sell new cars to new customers” Simpson said.
“I think that most manufacturers are going to target the new package as a new car and incorporate necessary upgrades for both reliability, ease of operation and performance. What is often forgotten is that car manufacturers have to sell new cars.
“The investment from the manufacturer in the areas design, engineering, prototyping, testing, production and sales is significant. Manufacturing is a costly process that continuously needs feeding and a huge amount of the motorsport industry relies on it.”
This transitional period grants Ginetta a chance to attract customers. Simpson is keen to stress that Ginetta is still fully supportive of its LMP3 programme and dismissed the idea that Ginetta wouldn’t risk investing in LMP3 going forward with no certainty over the number of customers it can get on board.
“We have an exciting full season development for the current car with a customer team and star driver for 2024 season, with the aim to cover as much mileage and data possible to feed into the next generation car. Details of the full programme will be available very soon,” he said.
“The Ginetta should be taken very seriously. Looking at how it was developed, no expense was spared and there are some wonderful bits of engineering on the Ginetta, as it was developed at the same time as the LMP1 programme.
“LMP3 needs consistency, where rules don’t change, to give people confidence to purchase and compete. Engine supply has been difficult over the last 12 months and an updated powerplant is essential to give the category the continuity it needs
“LMP3 grids are healthy, the market is there. We are not going to have a large share of it, we know that. But our presence is not in doubt.
“We’ve supported it through this current platform with a handful of cars running. The investment was substantial from the Gen 1 car, and the core fundamentals of our car Gen 2 car will make the baseline for the Gen 3 car.”
“We have a wonderful engineering team at Ginetta and have a lot of automotive projects underway. The installation of the new drivetrain and the necessary changes around the operation of the engine are well within the scope of our ability. For me the exciting phase will be extracting more performance in our planned development in 2024 and implementing that into the new design for 2025. I am expecting significant gains in lap times.”
Ginetta will be organising test days for prospective customers throughout the year and hopes to fill its order book with a healthy number of cars for 2025.
“I would like to see some of the established teams run our chassis in the main ACO series in 2025 and I’m excited that Ginetta can work with our existing motorsport programmes and see drivers and teams step up,” Simpson concluded. “Diversity is important and Ginetta has always backed all its initiatives with LMP3 and LMP1, and we tried to get an LMP2 chassis contract.
“For anyone who wants to be different, we are here. We have teams for GT4. We now need to expand our reach in prototype racing.”
