When Ferrari left top-level sports car racing 50 years ago, the Prancing Horse was the winningest brand in the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 499P is here to take that throne back.
Ferrari has finally unveiled its new prototype endurance racer, the 499P, with which the company will gun for the overall victory in next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
It’s been a long time coming. The once-dominant company hasn’t fielded a factory-backed, top-class entry at the French classic in 50 years. And Ferrari is the last of the long list of factory-backed competitors for the 2023 race to be revealed. Cadillac and Porsche unveiled their new prototype entries earlier this year. BMW, who won’t race Le Mans until 2024, has already unveiled its car ahead of a 2023 IMSA campaign. Peugeot showed its entry last year. That program will join defending champ Toyota and (likely) the independent Glickenhaus in the Le Mans Hypercar class at next year’s 100th anniversary 24-race.
Like the entries from Toyota, Glickenhaus, and Peugeot, the 499P is built to Le Mans Hypercar rules. The BMW, Cadillac, and Porsche prototypes are designed to the IMSA-focused LMDh regulations, which, because of its spec hybrid system and chassis, are less expensive to build.
But Ferrari has never been afraid of spending vast sums of money on racing. And says Ferdinando Cannizzo, the company’s GT track car development chief, the Hypercar rules allows for more control of the final product. “This is our car,” says Cannizzo, “So we can optimize everything we want.”
Like the Toyota and Peugeot, the Ferrari will be an all-wheel-drive hybrid. A single 268-hp electric motor/generator powers the front axle (the power level defined by the regulations). The rear wheels receive power from a 670-hp twin-turbo V-6 engine. That output represents the maximum allowable in the class. A 900-volt battery mounts just beneath the 499P’s fuel tank.
The 3.0-liter V-6 is similar in configuration to the engine that powers the company’s new 296 road car, sharing its unusual 120-degree bank angle and its “hot V” arrangement with the turbos mounted in the engine’s valley. Chosen for its compactness, lightness, and low center of gravity, the V-6 also creates a nice marketing tie between the company’s road car and racing efforts. But Cannizzo cautions that the 499P’s engine, which is a stressed part of the car’s structure, is an entirely new unit. The car’s numeric name is derived from the engine’s individual cylinder capacity, a traditional naming scheme Ferrari has periodically used.
A pushrod-activated, double-wishbone suspension bolts to the carbon fiber structure. A brake-by-wire arrangement aids battery-replenishing energy recovery. The transmission is a 7-speed unit from Xtrac.
Ferrari began designing the 499P in March 2021. And the two test units have already covered more than 12,000 kilometers, one focused on performance, the other on reliability.
The 499P’s body looks broadly similar to other new entries in the class. The main exception to that is the 499P’s novel dual-plane wing arrangement. The company says the styling, a collaborative effort between the race car engineering team and Flavio Manzoni’s styling department, is immediately recognizable as a Ferrari. We’ll let you be the judge of that.
The two cars, run in conjunction with the AF Corse race team, will be red (as if there was ever any other option). In a nod to its last Le Mans prototype competitor, the 312 P, the 499 will also wear bright-yellow accents.
Ferrari will run the full 2023 World Endurance Championship (WEC) schedule, which includes Le Mans. And customer cars won’t come before 2024, if at all. The 499P will make its racing debut at the WEC round at Sebring in March. With so many largely unproven but lavishly funded cars on the grid, the outcome of the 2023 Le Mans is anyone’s guess. But it promises to be the most compelling 24 Hour in recent memory.
Daniel Pund Executive Editor Daniel Pund is a veteran car reviewer, feature writer, and occasional bomb thrower.
Keyword: The Ferrari 499P is a Le Mans Racer 50 Years in the Making