Ahead of its racing debut in 2023 at the World Endurance Championship, Ferrari’s as-yet-unnamed Le Mans Hypercar will open its lid at the end of the month. The new LMH engine marks the Prancing Horse’s return to top-level endurance racing after the 312 PB made its last appearance some 50 years ago. Testing begins in July at the company’s Fiorano circuit before heading to other landmarks such as Mugello, Barcelona, Imola and Portimao.
Speaking of Imola, the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari will serve as the venue for this year’s Ferrari Finali Mondiali event where LMH will open the lid on 30 October. It will join the 296 GT3, which will celebrate its debut in Italy after the world premiere was held for 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps back in July. It is a follow-up to the 488 GT3, a successful race car that has scored more than 500 wins so far.
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In an interview with the Italian edition of our sister site Motorsport.com, Ferrari sports car racing boss Antonello Coletta revealed LMH had carried out more than 10,000 kilometers (6,213 miles) of testing. He went on to say that the hypercar hits the track every 10 days to gather experience and make the necessary tuning before the WEC season opener at Sebring is set for mid-March next year.
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“The car is very complicated because we have chosen the Hypercar [LMH rules], whereas the LMDh regulations call for slightly simpler cars. This choice brings with it some non-trivial complications to solve. That’s why I say that the more we drive, the better.”
We will have to wait again to find out the names of the drivers as Coletta said Motorsport.com which will be revealed after the race car’s debut, possibly towards the end of 2022. For the development program, Ferrari relied on WEC GTE Pro drivers Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina as well as factory GT drivers Davide Rigon, Daniel Serra, Alessio Rovera and Nicklas Nielsen.
It remains to be seen whether the LMH will serve as the foundation for Ferrari’s next highway hypercar. For what it’s worth, the vehicle is coming “soon” as per a statement made in June during Capital Markets Day when the company announced its future plans. It will be one of 16 vehicles to launch in 2026, including the brand’s first EV to be launched in 2025.
