Ferrari has taken the wraps off the 499P, its World Endurance Championship LMH contender, that will debut at the series opening round at Sebring in March 2023. At the grand finale of its Ferrari Mondiali in Imola at the end of October 2022, Ferrari’s first prototype since the 312P, which raced 50 years ago, was unveiled during the gala dinner at the end of a weekend celebrating Ferrari in racing. The 499P is a ground-up design from Ferrari’s base in Maranello, with all major departments within the company brought together to contribute to the final design. The result is stunning, with a markedly complicated aerodynamic concept and a production-derived engine.
The car has yet to pass its homologation tests, and development work, which started on track in July 2022, is ongoing. Ferrari expects to have homologation completed around the end of 2022 ahead of its Florida debut. The team says it has completed 11,000km of testing and hopes to double that before Sebring. So far, the car has been reliability testing at circuits around Italy, and it will shortly move into the performance phase.
Although two cars will be run in the WEC by AF Corse, Ferrari has already hinted that customer cars may be available for the following year. Teams such as Risi Competizioni are keen to run the car in the IMSA series in 2024. Other customers will seek to run cars in the World Endurance Championship alongside the Ferrari works team.
Powertrain
Competing under LMH regulation...