Ferrari's next Le Mans winner? 499P Hypercar revealed in full

A pleasing nod to tradition packaged in a car that represents the here and now, and very much what should be a thrilling future. That’s the Ferrari 499P, the Le Mans Hypercar revealed this weekend at the famous sports car maker’s Finali Mondiali extravaganza at Imola. It’s the most anticipated and significant new racing car of this generation and arguably for a couple more before it, as Ferrari prepares to return to the Le Mans 24 Hours in a bid for overall victory for the first time in exactly 50 years.

That the car would be striking was inevitable, especially as we’d already had a sneak preview of its heavily winged form from spy shots that had captured it testing in camouflage. Now in its official livery, complete with yellow stripe as a throwback to the glorious 312P of Ferrari’s last premier-division factory racer of 1973, it is undoubtedly breath-taking. The LMH contender looks great in the photos, even better in the metal.

Beyond the stripe, the name also reflects Ferrari’s bounteous traditions, 499 representing the displacement of its six-cylinder engine, ahead of P for Prototype. Based on the V6 in the GT3 version of the 296 GTB, the twin-turbocharged engine is mated to an Energy Recovery System (ERS) connected to the front axle for four-wheel-drive propulsion. Ferrari could have chosen the more economically friendly and relatively simple rear-wheel-drive LMDh route for its historic return to prototype endurance racing, just like old rival Porsche. But somehow a spec hybrid powertrain supplied by Williams Advanced Engineering, Bosch and Xtrac was never going to cut it for the world’s most illustrious high-performance car maker.

The ERS is fed by a sophisticated brake-by-wire braking system, with power transmitted through a seven-speed sequential gearbox.

“We chose LMH because it is important for Ferrari to make all the car and all the parts,” said Competizione GT chief Antonello Coletta, who confirmed the 900v battery powering the bespoke 200kW ERS has been developed from learnings gained in Formula 1. “Ferrari is a constructor, the manufacturer of the car, and for us it is not our philosophy to buy a part. We decided to come back into prototypes when the rules gave us the chance to make all the car. This car is a manifesto of the technologies of Ferrari.”

On the choice of engine, which acts as a stressed member in the 499P, he said: “Of course, each part is developed and it is completely different to the engine of the street car. But this is the base of our philosophy: all the experience of our six-cylinder road cars has been the base of this engine.

“This is important for us. We have come back into prototypes, into the maximum category, but we have not forgotten that it is a laboratory for the street cars. This link is very important for us.”

Ferrari’s return to the premier division of sports car racing coincides with a boom in manufacturer interest at Le Mans and in the endurance scene. In 2023 the Prancing Horse will face the well-established Toyota Gazoo Racing squad, which has won the previous five Le Mans, Peugeot’s radical 9X8 which has already taken its bow in the World Endurance Championship this season, plus new LMDh challengers from Porsche and Cadillac. The American-owned Glickenhaus team might also return with its 007 LMH contender, although its continued participation in the WEC has yet to be confirmed. Meanwhile, more LMDh contenders from the likes of Alpine, BMW and Lamborghini are on their way to Le Mans for 2024.