A brief social media ‘sting’ from Ferrari has confirmed that the world famous brand will enter the Hypercar class from 2023 with a car built to the LMH rulebook, effectively confirming that their programme is focused on the FIA World endurance Championship and, of course, the 24 Hours of Le Mans (which in 2023 will be in its centenary year).
Ferrari will therefore join Toyota, Glickenhaus, and Peugeot as factory teams having chosen the Le Mans Hypercar route to the new ‘converged’ top ‘Hypercar’ class at Le Mans and in the class that will encompass the incoming LMDH cars from 2022/23 with Audi, Porsche and Acura already committed to that new ruleset.
A brief statement from Ferrari reads:
Following a period of study and analysis, Ferrari has kicked off the development of the new LMH car to include in recent weeks the design and simulation phases. The track testing programme, the name of the car and the drivers who will make up the official crews, will be part of future announcements.
Fifty years after its last official participation in the premier class of the World Sports Car Championship in 1973, Ferrari will take to the track in the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship, which it proactively helped to establish. It has a respectable record in closed-wheel competition with 24 world titles (most recently in 2017) and 36 victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Ferrari President John Elkann commented: “In over 70 years of racing, on tracks all over the world, we led our closed-wheel cars to victory by exploring cutting-edge technological solutions: innovations that arise from the track and make every road car produced in Maranello extraordinary. With the new Le Mans Hypercar programme, Ferrari once again asserts its sporting commitment and determination to be a protagonist in the major global motorsport events”.
