Ferrari have revealed their new car which will compete in the World Endurance Championship next year as the team makes its return to the top flight of sportscar racing.
The four-wheel-drive machine has been built to WEC hybrid-engine Hypercar class. A 200kW electric motor powers its front axle and a 500kW twin-turbo V6, based on the motor used in the 296 GT3, drives the rear wheels.
The purpose-built battery draws on Ferrari’s experience with Formula 1’s hybrid power units. The electric drivetrain is charged by deceleration and braking.
The 499P is named in the fashion of Ferrari’s past sport cars, with a ‘P’ designation denoting it as a ‘prototype’ and the digits referring to its power output.
The car will make its debut in the 1,000 Miles of Sebring in March, which begins the seven-round WEC series. It will contest the series’ blue riband race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in June, followed by Ferrari’s home round at Monza in July.
“The 499P sees us return to compete for outright victory in the WEC series,” said Ferrari’s executive chairman John Elkann. “When we decided to commit to this project, we embarked on a path of innovation and development, faithful to our tradition that sees the track as the ideal terrain to push the boundaries of cutting-edge technological solutions, solutions that in time will be transferred to our road cars.
“We enter this challenge with humility, but conscious of a history that has taken us to over 20 world endurance titles and 9 overall victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”
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Sam
29th October 2022, 22:13
Looks very nice. Hopefully the start of a better era of WEC.
falken (@falken)
29th October 2022, 22:27
Should look good in the inevitable Lego version
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
30th October 2022, 4:36
Looks pretty much like the old lmp1. Wec failure. Boring.
thegamer23
29th October 2022, 22:27
Looks incredible.
Watch out F1, Wec is Bac
Mark in Florida
29th October 2022, 22:39
I’m so looking forward to seeing Ferrari in action at Sebring come March. I’ve already got my ticket for the race. With the WEC teams racing on Friday for the 1000 miles enduro and the 12 hour race on Saturday you can’t beat the value of this race weekend. I just want to see the WEC cars to be faster this coming race season. The Daytona Prototype cars were actually faster by about 4 seconds a lap than their European counterparts. I guess the racing v8 still has a lot of life left in it. I hope some of you from Europe can make it to the race. I always enjoy meeting different people at the track. Dave from Scotland see you in March.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
30th October 2022, 2:34
I don’t have a significant contribution to make here, but I wanted to say something as the car looks fantastic and WEC is looking more promising all the time.
BasCB (@bascb)
31st October 2022, 12:57
I agree there, @cairnsfella, Ferrari seem to have at least done a good job at the visuals of the car (we’ll only get to see in time how it performs), here is to seeing a competitive field of good looking cars boosting WEC profile!
amian
30th October 2022, 10:57
I love how they cut the ugly shark-fin to go along the roof line for a bit. Those huge shark fins are disgusting.
Those pretended naked rear wheels are a fantastic idea!!! The execution of this at the front isn’t well made though.
Leroy (@g-funk)
30th October 2022, 14:48
Glad to see WEC coverage again!