Ferrari has officially unveiled its new Le Mans Hypercar, the 499P, after months of leaks and speculations.
The new prototype marks the iconic Italian manufacturer’s return to top class racing at Le Mans, the first time in 50 years it will have raced for the overall win in the French endurance classic, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The car, which so far we’ve seen in camouflage dazzle livery to disguise its shape, was decked out in the full race livery, red, yellow and black. The cars will race with thye numbers #50 and #51 — #50 to mark Ferrari’s return to the top class, and #51 being AF Corse’s classic race number.
AF Corse, the team which has run Ferrari’s GT efforts in the FIA World Endurance Championship for the last decade, will run the car as part of a two-car factory effort in the WEC. the driver line up is so far unconfirmed, but Ferrari and AF Corse have said all six drivers will come from the Ferrari family.
The 499P will have a V6 twin turbo engine, the same architecture as the 296 GT3. The 499P has currently racked up over 12,000 kilometres in testing so far, with Ferrari testing the car as recently as this week at Monza.
Ferrari’s Executive Chairman, John Elkann said: “The 499P sees us return to compete for outright victory in the WEC series. When we decided to commit to this project, we embarked on a path of innovation and development, faithful to our tradition that sees the track as the ideal terrain to push the boundaries of cutting-edge technological solutions, solutions that in time will be transferred to our road cars.
“We enter this challenge with humility, but conscious of a history that has taken us to over 20 world endurance titles and 9 overall victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”
