The Ferrari 499P is an endurance racing prototype developed in-house with a hybrid powertrain based on a production engine.
The company says the car will debut at the Sebring race in March 2023, but the biggest news here it that Ferrari also plans to return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans after a hiatus spanning half a century.
The car is presented in a red and yellow livery with sponsor logos all around and the number ‘50’, which probably refers to the Le Mans comeback. It also sports an impressively large front splitter, a matching rear diffuser, a stabilizing fin and a large rear wing.
The 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 originates from the Ferrari 296 racecar, but enjoys a larg number of modifications making it a load-bearing part of the frame. An electric motor assists it in an AWD configuration, driving the front wheels while the engine drives the rear ones. The combined output is capped at 680 PS (671 hp / 500 kW).
Ferrari intends to participate in the LMH category, which it has access to thanks to a proprietary chassis design. Another popular category, LMDh, limits chassis manufacturer choices to Dallara, Ligier, Multimatic, and Oreca. According to the head of the automaker’s motorsports division, a road-legal hypercar might emerge later on based on the same tech.
