If you’ve seen the film Le Mans 66, you know that Ferrari won the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans, battling Ford. But since then, the Italian scuderia has never managed to win the endurance race. Back on the Sarthe route for the 2023 edition, the team intends to return to the top step of the podium.
If we do not yet know the drivers selected by Ferrari, the car has been unveiled to the public. The 499P is therefore Ferrari’s ultimate prototype. Before arriving at Le Mans, he will start competing near Sebring for a 1000 mile event.
499P: the ultimate car to win Le Mans?
With a biturbo hybrid V6 engine derived from Formula 1, the 499P does not come to make up the numbers. If Ferrari has been absent from La Sarthe since 1973, the scuderia can count on AF Corse, a private team, which has been competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in GT categories for years.
For Antonello Coletta, director of sports activities at Ferrari, the long-standing partnership with AF Corse is a great thing for Ferrari. This alliance should in particular make it possible to dip into the pool of AF Corse pilots. If their names are still unknown, Colletta assures that they will all come from “the Ferrari family”. Thanks to AF Corse, Ferrari “has reliable GT drivers and our choice will be 100% in-house.”
As far as the car is concerned, Ferrari pays homage to its rich past on the roads of Le Mans. The red and yellow livery of the hypercar recalls the colors of the 312 BP, the last official Ferrari car to have started in the Sarthe.
A very special edition
At the next edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which marks the 100th anniversary of motor racing, Ferrari will have to compete with other legendary manufacturers in the history of motorsport. If Toyota, winner of the last five editions, is the big favourite, the Japanese manufacturer will have to face Porsche and Audi.
The Germans will be serious contenders for the final victory in the same way as Peugeot. The Frenchman, winner for the last time in 2009, also signs his return to the fore with the 9X8. A very ambitious prototype, very different from Ferrari’s red 499P.
The next edition of the 24 hours of Le Mans will start on June 10 at 3 p.m. If the famous start on foot with the cars on the cob was abandoned in 1969, the first moments of this endurance race are always a moment apart for the spectators present at the edge of the track and the millions of people who follow the event. from their television set.
