Ferrari has announced it will return to the top flight of sportscar racing by fielding its own Le Mans Hypercar in the World Endurance Championship from 2023.
The Italian manufacturer will line up in the WEC with an in-house chassis and take on hypercar competition from Toyota, Peugeot, Glickenhaus and ByKolles, while Audi, Porsche and Acura are building new LMDh prototypes which will also be eligible to compete in a unified Le Mans Hypercar class.
Ferrari last won Le Mans outright in 1965 – its ninth overall win – before focusing on class wins at the French endurance classic.
In 2019 the Scuderia took a 27th class win in GTE Pro with a Ferrari 488 GTE car driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Daniel Serra. In recent decades Ferrari focused its efforts in Maranello on its Formula 1 team, but due to the incoming budget cap the team has sought to slim down its F1 workforce and redeploy staff elsewhere.
Earlier it announced several team members will move over to customer team Haas in a Maranello-based hub, before embarking on a hypercar programme.
Ferrari’s yet unnamed hypercar will be the first sportscar prototype by the manufacturer since the Ferrari 333 SP, which raced between 1994 and 2003 but didn’t prove successful at Le Mans.
The Italian squad has yet to announce any drivers for the hypercar programme but has a well-stocked factory driver roster.
In addition to Le Mans winners Pier Guidi, Calado and Serra, it also has the likes of Davide Rigon, Miguel Molina, Sam Bird and Nicklas Nielsen on the books.
It could also employ some of its Ferrari academy drivers such as FIA Formula 2 runner-up Callum Ilott, or even turn to F1 veteran Kimi Raikkonen.
Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi, who is employed by Ferrari, might also be available for a Le Mans run.
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